



Class JEILias: 

Rook J s- 
CopigM 



COPYRIGHT DEPOStT. 



4 






COPYRIGHT 1914 

BY 
J. F. INGRAHAM, Sr. 



©CI.A397753 

71, 



Seedling Philosophy 



Ingraham's Philosophy 



What is right we all should know, 
It will help our fight for life, 

In snares and snarls we struggle through 
In this hard and bitter strife. 

It helps to tell the right at sight, 

For use or truth alone, 
For truth will always hold its weight, 

Which philosophy calls its own. 



Go Gbose TObo TCtoulo Gbink 



In offering this little book, with its freight to 
people, I hope it will be received, as a book containing 
some few interesting facts not generally known, and 
if the writer can start two people to thinking, he will 
be satisfied. Of course the talk will seem strange to 
some, but then, it is true reason, and true philosophy, 
almost unknown. 

In reading this small work, the writer hopes, that 
the reader will investigate what is printed here, by, and 
with common reason. I mean the art of comparing, 
not by any kind of isms, opinions, belief, or any kind 
of dogmas, now so prevalent, for we have had enough 
of thinks. Streets are full of them, and beliefs are a 
drug on our brain markets. Let us go below belief, 
and get near truth, as taught by reason. 

It does not matter one's belief, learned or un- 
learned, measure the subjects in this book with na- 
ture, by reason. If you cannot reason, learn, it is 
easy, very easy. But in justice to yourself, the world's 
opinion and the writer, dig the virtue out of these 
subjects by the pick of reason. The only things that 
will do it on this earth, and the truth will come, pure 
and simple. I have handled these subjects, just as T 
have found them. Except space, fire and building of 
the earth of which I know nothing about, nor claim 
to, would admire, and if one notes anything worthy 
of thought herein, write or see me. I would be pleased 
to reason or explain anything 1 have written about. 
At least ask me questions by letter or in person. The 
earth is welcome to do so. 

AUTHOR. 



APR 2 I9f5 



Seedling Philosophy 

Truth Measured With Fiction 

Product of Over Fifty Years' Study 
Useless Words Eliminated 

Over Th'rty Biological Explanations With Seventy Philosophical 
Reasonings 

The Origin of Life Dug From the Bottom of Nature 
Concentrated to Memory 

In Reason's Way As In Nature's 
[Fourth Book] 

BELIEFS, ISMS AND THINKS, CORRECTED OR 
EXPLAINED, AS YOU WILL 



BY 
J. F. INGRAHAM, Senior 



PEABODY, MASS., 1914 



Space 



What we call space, appears to be expanded force, 
that is, matter in its original state with no form as we 
know form. 

What I mean by force is matter in the form of 
gases. That is, the smallest known condition of matter 

Mixed uniformly with the^e gases is a subtle ele- 
ment we call fire, the builder and destroyer of solid 
bodies, and is present in about everything known on 
our earth. In fact, all real stars appear to be glowing 
balls of fire. Fire in any form to us means motion. By 
rubbing your hands you start the animal heat on fire in 
a weak form. 

Of the origin of fire and the gases I have no 
opinion. Yet, some of good repute say that fire is an 
animal and the quickest one known. You may smile at 
this, but study it before you adopt an opinion. 

What appears to us to be a solid body at some 
time was gas, floating in space, so fine we could look 
through it as through glass. But how was it gathered 
into a solid? I have but one opinion, that is, by comets 
rushing through space gathering dust to build a body 
like our earth or sun. 

Fire appears to be the one power that keeps our 
earth rushing through space; also, it seems to be the 
mainspring of all life. Remove heat and all life ceases 
as we know life. 

Of the theory that heat and cold are the same 
thing? That is, that part in motion we call heat, and 
that part near still we call cold. Time perhaps will in- 



Seedlings 



form us. 

Fire seems to enter between the atoms of matter 
and press them apart. It does not seem to destroy any 
part of matter, but eats and grows on attraction and 
repulsion that holds matter together. It will make 
separate metal unite in a solid body. Fire does not 
seem to die as a tree, it simply goes to rest. Motion 
will arouse it to active life. 

Fire, cold and distance are the three builders of 
bodies. Melt some metal and you only change its 
form. Then remove the heat, you have the metal just 
the same. To burn a tree is different. You have a few 
ashes. Apply fire to these, and you will reduce them to 
dust. Fire we cannot see, nor can we handle it. It will 
mix with gases and solid forms or vapor, hence explo- 
sions. I opine matter always Avas, though not in the 
form we see it. 'Tis changing, always changing, into 
form and out of form. 



Iftumbers 



Numbers are the most positive thing in nature. 
They describe quantities. Pathagrious thought they 
were part of godhead, and a Complete number was 
three. That is a beginning, middle and ending. Num- 
bers are positive, never more, never less. Never a 
change. You say three men. Just so many, never 
more nor less. Three is an immortal number that is 
never lost in any number of figures. Multiply it by any 
number, the result added remains three. Example: 



Seedlings 1 1 



Say three times seven are twenty-one ; two and one are 
three. So it is with any other number, results always 
three. So measured by others it is immortal, as you 
cannot lose it. 



Cbree (Sreat powers 



Among the great powers that predominate, three 
appeal to us — attraction, repulsion and harmony. At- 
traction holds our society together, for without attrac- 
tion cities, nations could not live. Just think of any 
thing without attraction and you will understand. 
Form of no kind or shape could exist without at- 
traction. 



iRules 



In nature there is no law, for nature knows no 
law. Everything changes and is guided by distance, 
chance and conditions. Law is distinctly human, 
made by humanity to protect weak humanity. 

Living as we do, laws are necessary to protect us 
from each other. We have written laws and unwritten 
laws. If nature was run by law, there would be things 
made alike. But they are far from that. You cannot 
find in nature two things just alike. No two blades of 
grass, no two leaves, no two stones, no two stars, no 
two men or women, no two days, years or anything 
made or governed by nature are alike. 



Seedlings 



Law brings everything to a level. And so it is 
everyone who steals is punished according to law. You 
can change law, but not its administration. Now in na- 
ture there appear to be certain habits that are chang- 
ing" all the time. Things grow similar but not alike, and 
appear to me to hinge on time, chance and condition. 

Ignorance of our surroundings show. I happen 
to be out without an umbrella and it rains. I get wet 
and catch cold and die. Now I was ignorant of the 
chance of conditions in my surroundings, hence death. 
Yet no law was the cause of my death. Now a law 
would have it rain on certain times. Knowing that, I 
would have carried an umbrella and not got wet and 
died. Our nature comes from the earth, so do our 
bodies, and it naturally follows, we are governed by 
the same rules that govern earthly matter. There can 
be no law in nature, for every second she is changing. 
It is just the same as time. There is no time unless we 
make it. It is all a mistake when you hear people talk- 
ing about the laws of nature, for there is no law as we 
know law in nature. 



attraction 



Our earth and her sister planets are held in their 
positions by what scientists term attraction and repul- 
sion, though it is not known what either are. And 
perhaps it is just as well, as they appear to remain in a 
balance. But reason teaches they are either advanc- 
ing or retreating from each other all the time. 



Seedlings 

Balance 



Vegetation and animals live on a balance. All 
forms great or small do the same. So, if the heat be- 
comes too great, we die. If the cold becomes too 
strong, we die. And between the two extremes we 
live, so to speak, on a balance. And all things, stars, 
planets, all kinds of life exist the same, except space, 
time and matter. 



(Srowtb 



All animals grow by the evaporation of water 
--trees from their roots, animals from- their middle. 
Plant life evaporates nearly sixteen hundred pounds ot 
water to one pound of solid plant, animals from twenty 
to fifty to every pound gained in bodily weight. This 
is near the average. Of course, different animals and 
different trees and plant life require more or less. 



2)eatb 



When animals die, the changes we see are four — 
absence of heat and breath, the blood leaves the sur- 
face and the body itself becomes still. Our five senses 
do not recognize any matter leaving the body. It be- 



1 4 Seedlings 



comes cold, rigid. And as far as we know, the body is 
as perfect after death as before in all its working parts. 
All it requires for life is heat. The gray matter we talk 
so much about being the seat of intelligence is still in 
the head. And just as soon as life has left, the body 
itself begins to decompose into its composite parts. All 
knowledge, as far as we know, dies with this gray mat- 
ter. Knowledge, body, heat, breath, brains and form 
disappear. That is death. 



Brains 



Brains of animals, in the concrete, are the same, 
and work on the same general principle. In the head 
of the average person there are from three to five mil- 
lion cells, or nearly that many. Each one will receive 
a picture, perhaps one-ten thousandth of an inch in 
diameter. Yet each picture is perfect in itself and 
stands ready to show itself to the nerve that brought 
the picture to it. If the nerve is vigorous and cell in 
proper condition, a picture will sometimes remain a 
whole lifetime, to be called up at will. This is termed 
memory. On the other hand, if the nerve acts slow, cell 
is hardened for lack of food or other causes, why, the 
picture will be light. Hence poor memory will follow, 
for you cannot recall the picture easily. As a rule, you 
can judge a person's knowledge by his memory. 

I have not received one little bit of proof that an} 
part of knowledge leaves any body before or aftei 
death. So far as I have been able to learn, the cells 



Seedlings 1 5 



with their pictures, from what knowledge is, seem tc 
die with the body. If there is anything that is not mat 
ter, that can receive an information and retain it, why 
1 never heard of it, never saw any proof of it, therefore 
I do not know it. And I think those who do believe 
that belief is all they have for proof. Do not forget, be 
lief is a substitute for truth. Now, if the above is true 
how do we know each other hereafter? 



©rigin of Gbougbt 



Thought is the product of brain pictures, use r ^ 
one with another. So it follows, the more brain pic 
tures, the more thought to grapple with the problems 
of life. And so we say, such a one has more brain? 
than some others, meaning that more pictures stick in 
his head. 



]form 



Form and time are the only things made by the 
animal world, in fact, the only known things made by 
any power. Matter is here, always has been here. 
And the builders of form, as we see it, are cold, heat, 
attraction, harmony, time or distance They also de- 
stroy form. No power, according to our five senses, 
can make something out of nothing. It is contrary to 



1 6 Seedlings 



what we learn and human reason In relation to form, 
it always seems strange where forms go when they 
leave the living world, so numerous, humanity could 
not conceive. They continue to stream along, no two 
alike, only a look that is similar. And stranger still, 
one never came back. 



GbinlunG 



Thinking is as simple as breathing. Suppose you 
have an apple, the kind you like. You begin to say to 
yourself — and you may be in bed, your eyes shut, still 
you see the apple — now if I had two more, I could have 
a pie. And if I had, I would have one to eat raw. This 
is thinking, and by so doing you have made three 
new pictures. So by the sight of the first apple, you 
have added two more and a pie, making three — three 
new pictures in your head. Yet you never saw the pie, 
because it was not made. How can you see the pie? 
Simple enough. The pictures of other pies were in 
your head. You have only to look at them with some 
of your senses, the eye that first saw the apple and the 
picture of taste you got while eating other pies, prior 
to this time. So how easy to think. As a rule a person 
will be biased towards anything that has its pictures in 
his head. By a complete and subtle use of these pic- 
tures, and the will of our five senses in comparing, we 
can make many pictures of things to be. Of course, 
they will be limited according to the amount of 
thought you have. Some are grotesque and unreason- 



Seedlings 1 7 



able, and some will be just what you want. In a 
word, picture is knowledge, and I may add knowledge 
is power. Power is a superiority over others who have 
less. 



TReason 



Reason is a detective, a forerunner, that is hunting 
for the best way to avoid mistakes, and seek the best 
way to go to gratify our passion and fill our ambition. 
Reason is the only pathfinder we have that is safe to 
follow. Reason is the art of comparing what will fol- 
low in the future, by the trend of the past and looks of 
the present. You can reason on belief for a base or 
supposition, as well as a truth, and sometimes reat li 
good results. To reason well is to possess the best gift 
in the power of nature to bestow, for with reason you 
can do all things possible. Without, you are the same 
as a tree, for all animals reason some. 

The best way to reason is to drop all isms and be- 
liefs. Use almost everything you know that is truth. 
Example : Get two rods of iron, one two, the other one 
foot long, the same size around. Now show the two 
rods to a person, and tell him the short rod weighs past 
two pounds. Ask him how much he thinks the long 
one weighs. He will reason this way. The rods are 
about the same size around, same density. One rod one 
foot long weighs two pounds, the long one should 
weigh as much again, would be the answer. This is 
reasoning, pure and simple, and should be applied to 
everything we do. It is the only guess we have for the 



Seedlings 



future. Again, those who make it a practice to reason 
things before they act, have better success than they 
who do not. By all means learn to reason. It will give 
you some light on the darkest problems of life. And 
all you have to do is to practice it to become an expert. 
Do'it. 



ffaitb 



A dark subtle fellow, born of belief, whose grand- 
father was ignorance. The pleasing effect we feel is 
why we use him. He is a handy tool sometimes. 
Faith governed by reason has Avorked wonderful 
things. I think faith and belief belong in the same 
class. They generally use belief for past, faith for 
future. To me the game is not worth the powder. Use 
them as one, and they are one. Faith occupies the 
place of truth in future, while truth in reality belongs 
to the past. For a thing to be a truth must be past or 
present, while faith is used chiefly in theology, where 
about all is supposition. It is there that faith and its 
father, belief, flourish, and both from ignorance. 



Belief 



Belief of itself is a common substitute for a fact. 
When we do not know a thing is true, we believe. Be- 
lief is one of the greatest factors in our mental life. Be- 
lief in time, to a believer, will become a fact. Hence so 



Seedlings 1 9 



many mistakes. We do not question its benefits. It is 
a great blessing to us when used right, and a terrible 
enemy when not. It must be reasonable proof. It 
promotes our welfare and gives us courage. We would 
not build or make anything of any note without its 
help, but woe to the one that leans on it without reason. 
And blessed is the one that gets it straight, with rea- 
son as a companion, for they will prosper. Most all 
our troubles arise in its wrong use. There are three 
common habits of getting on with it — belief without 
reason, drifting, belief with reason. The last named 
means success. Hang on to it and you will surely 
prosper. 



Xove 



Love or desire seems to be the mainspring of all 
our doing, and is the base of all animal movement all 
over the earth. And I think it is a part of all things 
that have brains. It surely is the governing power of 
all. Its control is so absolute and despotic, there is no 
appeal. No power is known that has so complete a 
control over animal existence as love or desire. It is 
the cause of most, or a large part, of our woe. It is the 
mother of our pleasure, father of our hopes, and the 
shortening of our lives. It is the cause of all our 
building, all our science and everything that we value. 
It is an immense power and completely dominates us. 
We do not sense it any more than when we breathe. 
When one loses the love of life, he is of no use to the 
people. The only bridle for love is reason, and it sel- 



20 Seedlings 



dom is used, alas. 

I would define it as the essence of pleasure. Some 
animals' love is intense. Weal or woe, it yields to no 
known power but to repulsion and death. The cause 
of pleasure is the want of some like chemical in our 
system. Would like to converse with any person on 
this subject. 



ibope 



The cable that pulls us to the future. Hope in 
itself is waiting. Something new to come, in reality 
longing for a change with new conditions. And it is a 
comfort to think of it. Many people would die were it 
not for hope. It is the only attribute of the human 
that sticks to them. All others fade. It is our mental 
saviour. We build on it, bank on it, trade on it and as 
far as I can see, were it not so, our civilization would 
cease. What salt is to meat and fish, hope is to our 
mental food. We hang to it with a grip that only the 
loss of reason or death can break. Yet it is a brother 
of faith and cousin of belief. Faith came from igno- 
rance, a stupendous large family. Hope, a balm to our 
mistakes, to think we can try again. It heals our men- 
tal wounds. What a poor lump of flesh a person would 
be without it. The best thing about it is that it is in 
perfect harmony with nature, for nature is naught but 
a big mass ot changes. Hope admonishes us to wait 
for them, and they never come alike, only similar, it is 
a truth when I tell you, foster hope, encourage it every 



Seedlings 



way you can. It is salt on tne ground of human 
thought. It is closely related to time, for time or dis- 
tance is the food on which hope thrives, the best at- 
tribute we possess. Stick to it. 



Cbarit? 



One of the sweetest thoughts we have, though 
apparently not understood, and much abused in 
thought, words and acts. A charitable act is in reality 
lending with no promise of payment. 

The idea of giving with the thought of never get- 
ting a return is all moonshine. Nature does not do 
things that way. I cannot find anything in nature that 
suggests such a thing, but, indeed, just the opposite. 
Nature demands and receives a full return. To give 
something for nothing is not done in nature or 
anywhere else, so call it by its right name. It pleases 
you to give, just as it pleases you to do something 
else. Charity as taught and generally understood (I at 
least have got that impression) meant the giving of a 
thing with the hope of no return. Yet there was this 
belief attached that sometime, somewhere and some- 
how the act was placed to your credit by someone, 
and would be paid in full with interest by someone 
sometime. Charity as taught in our creation is not 
found, yet taught as coming from the godhead. The 
prize for an act I don't know, or how many charitable 
acts mean eternal life. A very simple trade hugged to 
the heart by a majority of people and repudiated by 
others. I have not a breath of proof that God made 



22 Seedlings 



any such trade with anyone on this earth. And reader, 
do not forget that philosophy looks with a cold eye on 
everything in hunting for cause, or how a thing is 
done. 

Now if there were no poor people in the world, 
there would be no need of charity. Get the poor people 
out and charity could not exist. To me and my philoso- 
phy it would be much easier to get rid of the poor than 
to get eternal life, to become a god and live forever. 
Great plan. Even then one pleases self, and pleasing 
self is charity. You know pleasing self is selfishness, 
and it is self first, last and always. To get rid of 
charity, let the state feed the poor with what they earn, 
and not allow others to take under. 



£rutb 



Truth in thought is what iron is to our age. A 
solid thing as it were. The worth it bestows on people 
is immense, and results in the greatest good. Use the 
truth. It is the best way to live. It promotes courage, 
friendship, confidence, self-respect, an honorable com- 
munity, and is the most solid thing of humanity that 
I know, the base of human virtues. Truth was and is, 
yet has no future. Truth changes with conditions thai 
surround us. It never changes of itself. It is a mark, 
a tool and capital, and always acceptable to the world 
Deep in the brain of all humanity it is honored above 
most other virtues. 

'Tis the one thing we know, use and depend on. 
A truth may be truth today, but not tomorrow. Truth 






Seedlings 2 3 



is a thing as it is, the opposite to a lie. It is a habit to 
tell the truth. Once acquired, it generally sticks 
through life. There is not much to a man beyond his 
word, that is, all his honor in a word. A man who does 
not regard his promise a personal honor is of no use to 
a community. He is a child. You cannot depend on 
him. His talk is near childish prattle. No one believes 
him. My philosophy teaches me to tell the truth, or a 
blunt no, you will not tell. It will pay you a hundred 
fold through life. Try it. It will cost you nothing but 
a little will power, and notice how quick the people will 
notice it, no matter your condition in life, be it gutter 
or palace. Your word passes for its face value. The 
best thing to practice in life, tell the truth and be hon- 
ored. One truth is worth ten thousand lies in any mar- 
ket. 



%ucfc 



An early riser and lives in the future. It is a 
thing we know very little about beyond imagination. 
That some appear to be naturally more prosperous 
than others is true, but that is no evidence of the cause, 
for some are more handsome, stronger, taller, larger, 
have better health than others. This is not luck. I call 
it chance, for I do not know the reason why people are 
so. Things sometimes go one way, that is what some 
call good luck. When the other way, bad luck. When 
we say luck, we mean something we do not under- 
stand, and so say luck. Reason teaches that there can 
be no effect without a cause, and cause comes first. 



24 Seedlings 



Therefore luck must have a cause. Good or bad, we sec 
no cause beoynd this earth for either. 

I know of three things that produce all kinds ot 
forms — heat, cold and time. These three cause all 
changes and conditions, and of course they must father 
and mother luck. It seems to me, if the conditions are 
right, luck will come most one way. Yet like many 
things, it is as we think. Knowing the darkness that 
surrounds luck, I would not hug it too tightly. You 
might get stung. Luck stays with those who make 
fewest mistakes. 



H %te 



A lie is supposed to be bad, tb : > opposite to truth, 
which is- a good. The first is telling a story as it is not. 
Truth is telling a thing as it is. Law holds the motive 
to govern the story, as a lie to save life is not a lie. 
There are good lies and bad lies. Good lies help some- 
one. Bad lies injure someone. You can safely say a 
good lie has a good intent, a bad lie a bad intent. We 
cannot build a strong house with rotten lumber, nor a 
solid base on sand. Therefore tell the truth. There is a 
solidity about the truth teller we all heartily respect, 
for we do not know when a lier is telling the truth. A 
known lier is never trusted. And every man, woman 
and child who reads this, I say to them — tell the truth. 
Do as you say. Make your word good, for it is all that 
you have got, and you will be both trusted and re- 
spected. Do it for your friends, your kindred, the 



Seedlings 25 



world and yourself. There is nothing that will stick by 
you in adversity as the name of telling the truth Take 
a truth anywhere you find it. If it does you no good, it 
will somebody. 



Ibealtb 



Health is the most important thing in this life. 
No one can be happy without it. So if your health is 
not good, all things on this earth become twisted. 
Health should always be in your mind. To have much 
joy, make health your object. Far better is good health 
with poor surroundings than 9;ood surroundings and 
poor health with the best of everything. 

And don't forget, an ordinary head with a good 
blood supply is much better than a big head half 
starved. The first means lots of joy, while the latter 
means hell. The two are so fa r apart they cannot be 
compared. The composition of human bodies is not the 
same. What will starve one will fatten others. Alkali 
is food for some, others want acid or are quite neutral 
or bitter. While the same ground will grow all kinds 
of food, one kind of food will not grow two people the 
same. So a person should watch and determine them- 
selves the particular food they thrive on. To eat too 
much breeds germs, too little, some part is starving. 
Everyone should be a student in the selection of food, 
and not always follow the taste. Ever keep eyes, ears 
and reason on the alert. Such is the price of health. Go 
at it yourself. Do not depend on doctors or other peo- 



26 Seedlings 



pie. What suits their bodies might poison yours. If 
you watch you will soon learn the kind of food that 
agrees with your makeup. 

As a rule, any food that will leave the stomach in 
time for the next meal, allowing from five to six hours 
between meals, is usually the right kind. If it does 
not, do not eat it again. That kind of food that leaves 
you with a good appetite for the next is good, all things 
being right, and you alone can tell. Let people talk, 
^ou want health. Never mind cold and hot drinks. 
Stick to that which sticks to von. People who eat for 
taste only, as a rule get taste only, and in a few years 
they will begin to fade. Then their health breaks, joy 
is gone. Their hell on earth begins. Everything they 
meet is out of joint. It is a sour pleasure they see in 
fun. The brain gets warped. They get twisted, fool- 
ish, discontented, and so become a fossil. They con- 
tinue to exist, but they are onlv half there. Health is 
the first thing people should try and get. It is the 
foundation of life, as a rock is the foundation of a 
building. People are very careful what they feed their 
hens, horses, cows, dogs and cats on, but appear very 
indifferent to the growing of their bodies and the 
bodies of their children. This is all a mistake — a care- 
less mistake. So many lose their teeth, sight and health 
before maturity. Do not ha\ e it so. Change it. Do it 
now. Do not put it off. 

To be happy is the one great aim and end of 
human life. Our thoughts, actions, words, deeds con- 
centrate in this most desirable condition. To be happy 
is the opposite to pain. The greatest promise given 
by all the gods in their religions from, at all times 



Seedlings 2 7 



on this earth is joy, pleasure, happiness. Born with a 
trail body, all our struggles are to get away from pain, 
and its results, unhappiness. Now pleasure depends 
on the body, the mind, the liver, and that is the reason 
why so many are unhappy. People do not seem to un- 
derstand why so many are unhappy. They try most 
everything to get rid of it, yet somehow slip by the 
right thing. Now the one thing they slip by is this — 
and impress it on your mind — knowledge that joy 
comes from the inside of their own bodies. Now the 
meaning of pleasure is harmonv. When your body and 
your surroundings are in unison, then you are happy. 
Or in other words, not to want anything, or not to 
fear anything — that is, want a commodity, or fear evil, 
is near happiness. There is an anticipating happiness, 
meaning to occupy the mind, make pictures, and so for- 
get the pain of mind or body. Here then you see 
trouble comes mostly from the head. There is one 
general remedy for trouble. Choose for your pleasure 
a thing that if pressed too far will hurt only yourself, 
and no one else. Then when you get hurt your friends 
will pity you, and pity is a salve to trouble, and first 
step towards help. But good health, looking on the 
bright side, is a long way towards it, too. 

Now let me tell you a new truth apparently not 
generally known. You can be happy by practice if you 
can hang on long enough. Acquire the simple habit of 
thinking of little funny things. You will in time 
change your disposition, just as you learn to love 
other things. Seek harmless amusement. It will soon 
grow stronger than your trouble. Keep at it. Hard 
work at first, but after the first three or six months, it 



28 Seedlings 



will come easy. And do not forget this, that you 
cannot have joy without trouble. But work it so your 
balance will be on joy's side. Now dig in. Don't be 
careless and neglect it. You will miss it if you do. 



flrienfce 



The next best to health on earth. Plan to make 
friends. Work for them. Use any and all means that 
are honest and honorable to get them. You will never 
regret it. I do not mean friends you buy with money, 
but with good sensible acts of kindness. Friends 
bought with money are open to the highest bidder. AYe 
know you cannot get something for nothing, and so 
you cannot get friends without work. It is said kind be- 
gets kind. So if you think kindly, talk kindly, aet kind- 
ly, do kind things, the same as a rule will return in 
the shape of friends. I. mean reputable people, and not 
from road birds, whose friendship you buy for a song. 
If you loan money, you receive money in return. It is 
payment. You loan friendship, friendship should re- 
turn. Friends are so many eyes in the back of your 
head. One word behind your back often will help you 
in different ways. They are the blue birds of life. Life 
is not worth living without them. It is safe to trust a 
friend before gold or wealth of any kind, yes, before 
everything but good health. To a friend you tell your 
hopes, fears, sorrows and loves. They are the third 
best thing to possess in this world. For your own sake 
try and make friends — an honest trade. 



Seedlings fV 

(Soofc 



Good is a result, for there are as many goods as 
there are people. Some will thrive on a good that will 
kill others. Shakespeare explained good when he said, 
"There is not anything good or bad, but thinking 
makes it so." What we call good is something we like, 
and a good today is bad tomorrow. Thoughts of 
themselves are neither good nor bad, but results deter- 
mine. Many things we call good and bad alternate one 
to the other, just as they suit. 

Some use religion and go insane. Others use it 
and are happy. The love of money in some spoils 
them. Others seem to improA r e by its use. If you 
would do good, do something someone likes, for the 
act may be ever so good, yet not accepted as such, and 
so a good intent is turned into a bad one. There are 
certain cardinal goods, such as to have pure air to 
breathe, water to drink, rest. They are in the con- 
crete. But the goods in life, that we struggle so hard 
for, are in the abstract. Hunt them out and be happy. 
But do not set before those behind you, what you dis- 
like in those before you. 



Baft or j£vtl 



Bad or evil is another result and the opposite to 
good in the end. Though the same in nature, they 
trend to an opposite end with people, but their relation 



30 Seedlings 



to humanity is only known by results. Of course I do 
not include death. A farmer is getting his hay. A rain 
storm destroys it. This the farmer would call bad, or 
bad luek. Yet the same rain on another farm saved the 
farmer's corn crop. Now here was a rain both good 
and bad in results. So you see that a thing is neither 
good nor bad, except by result?. If a thing happens 
right, and it pleases us, it is good. If it comes wrong, 
displeases us, it is bad. In other words, when a thing 
is good, it is not bad, though bad when not good. 
When you say that was a bad thing to happen, un- 
known to yourself, you mean good to some, and bad to 
others. We use terms and names not knowing always 
what they mean. In common talk you are safe to say 
there is neither good nor bad, for good today is bad to- 
morrow. Alternate the two, seems about right. 



wieaitb 



Wealth is a large amount of value in various 
forms, generally of commodities that we use in life or 
their measure. Wealth to a person does not mean 
health, long life or happiness. Yet from time unknown 
people have seemed to think that to get wealth was and 
is the highest aim and end of human greatness. And 
the one who gathers wealth is entitled to the respect 
and honor by those who do not get it. Now the 
mere fact of getting wealth beyond a good and inde- 
pendent living does not entitle a person to more re- 
spect, but should act directly opposite, because wealth 



Seedlings 



becomes a menace to health and the life of our race, 
and the greatest corrupter of human virtues known on 
earth. The strength of ancient nations in science, art, 
virtue and fighting power was at its best when the na- 
tions were young and poor, but as they grew rit h 
they declined. Ease and sluggishness replaced activ- 
ity and love of freedom. And so it is with a strong, 
healthy people. As they grow in wealth, they decrease 
in number and strength. 

Men grow effeminate and think more of a shiny 
boots, and ease, than energy or work, hard work. I 
mean muscle work, which keeps the body strong and 
healthy, and nothing else will do it. Therefore I 
deprecate the love of great wealth and think more of 
active sports, which are not a menace to our race. It 
appears to me, that the wealth of one true friend is of 
more worth than the wealth of a town. Anyway, do 
not sell your friend for a dollar. Things enough to 
think about. Think of your family. It seems to me 
every well balanced man should have a family. Think 
of transmitting your blood and form to the future. Just 
as the tree, the flower, the fish do. It seems to be the 
climax of all vegetable and animal life ; and not think 
of imaginary stuff we call value, then solely die with 
the dry rot. 'Tis an unreasonable sight to see a strong 
man, or woman, set up one of these little possessions, 
god like, to follow through life, and I say here, 'tis 
surely unjust to do such a thing. All we do on this 
earth anyway is to eat and reproduce, but 'tis the fash- 
ion now to eat and dress, that's all. To hell with such 
a principle, a monumental, colossal disgrace to our in- 
telligence. Wealth leads to human decay and dissim- 



32 Seedlings 



ulation. To perdition with it. The end of our people 
is here told. Cursed with a system that destroys 
health, pleasure, long life, killing blood and form tor 
sake of wealth. 



deception 



Is lying by action, and is neither good nor bad of itself 
but just as used in conjunction with motive, as a rule, 
deceiving is injurious to some one's character. 'Tis 
as destructive to a solid man as fire is to dry paper. If 
you once get the name of deceiving, every one will hold 
you at arm's length. No one is willing to trust you. 
To deceive an enemy is considered smart, right and 
good, but to deceive a common person, you would be 
thought a scoundrel. The best way is not to deceive 
any one, but fight an open battle, for if you win, great 
is your honor for fighting fair. The average person 
will respect you, for most people dislike a sneak. No- 
bleness of manhood despises a fraud wherever found for 
the lowest in the land is a sneak ; a fraud is about the 
same. Deceiving is really a lie. You say a thing , and 
act the opposite. A highway man will rob you. You 
expect nothing else, but he does not add a lie to the 
theft. Deceiving should be avoided in little things 
first, for they lead to greater ones before a person 
knows it. Little bits build mountains. To lead the 
best life, deceive no one in anything ever so simple, for 
you know the beginning, but not the ending. So put 
your foot down and do not begin. The world never 



Seedlings 33 



yet respected a deceiver. I know 'tis a part of our lives 
to make people believe what we are not. We put the 
best we have forward to be seen, which appears to be 
right, yet it is deceiving. It is little deception, pleasing 
deception, also it will soon be a big deception ; then we 
are gone. Many and many bright, brilliant people have 
been ruined and despised by getting the odium of de- 
ceit attached to them. In my life I have found it the 
best every time, to act openly in about everything I 
have done. I have been at my ease, nothing to cover 
up. 



XauQbter 

IB 

There is one thing in human life, in my opinion, 
that should be taught to our children. That is laugh- 
ter. We leave it to chance, which is not right, it is of 
too much value to neglect. It is opposite to anger and 
the promoter of harmony, the foster mother of health, 
pleasure, and long life. One of the best gifts of nature, 
a sustainer of peace, builder of friendship. A substan- 
tial stimulant for digestion, puts beef on your bones, 
muscle in your legs and arms, it leads to comfort in 
every way. Gives a sunny face, somberness flees be- 
fore it, as dew before the sun. It is a school lesson, it 
should be practiced everywhere, by everybody. There 
is no act known, that has the value to build the body, 
and keep it built, it is a diamond of life, sunshine of 
thought. Priceless as a commodity it does its work 
smooth and oily. Think of it, no anger, no quarrel, no 
bitterness, all is pleasant, and above all, it is the main- 



34 Seedlings 



stay of harmony. It is a fact, I tell you the truth. 
Smile, laugh and grow healthy. I know only one 
thing I would rather possess ; that is health. Laughing 
is a part of happiness, but we don't recognize it. Is 
there anything more pleasant than to meet a laugh- 
ing face? God deliver me from a sour one. 



Do IRiQbt 



Do right. Oh, yes, do right, but what is right? 
Right in foreign countries is not right here. You 
cannot buy it, borrow it, beg it, or steal it, you must 
make it. Right is a product of the human brain, yet 
all right is not what one thinks it is. Each person has 
a right of his own. One person's right might not 
be right to another. To illustrate : Different people 
select different colors, and it is their right, yet these 
colors will not suit another person, and let me say 
here, there are as many rights as people in the world, 
as the right to go to bed at eight, nine or ten o'clock, 
and a thousand like things. 

And so it is, you c'hoose blue, red, green or yellow. 
No power on earth is superior in your selections, and in 
any and every other thing, your choice is supreme, and 
is right. The other side is altogether different. You 
have no right to press your choice on another person, 
or expect anybody to accept your choice. I know of no 
base, for a just law that can or will force you to ac- 
cept another's choice, yet there are just laws that will 
compel you to give sixteen ounces, instead of fifteen for 
a pound. Now this law is right, and based on equity. 



Seedlings 35 



You should be willing to receive what you give. This 
brings us to the fact that it is right to obey laws you 
live under, even if they are bad laws, or leave the place. 
The choice is your right. Philosophy teaches that there 
is no better way, between man and man, than the 
golden rule. I know of no other rule its superior. It 
is right, and should be a base between men. When 
you trade with one, you must determine yourself what 
is right. It is reasonable to suppose in trade you want 
the big end, and you know if you get it, he cannot. 
Now what will you do, take the big end, and not do 
right, or say to yourself, guess I'll do about what's 
right, I will split with him. So your ends are alike. 
You have not made so much money, but you have done 
right. Why ? You would have him do it to you, and 
that is right. There can be no other. For this reason, 
you and he are equal, as you stand before the laws 
of men. This is not nature. She makes men very un- 
equal. Do right for its sake, and never be sorry. 



IDirtue 



Virtue is a bloom of worth. It shines by its own 
intrinsic value. With a radiance excelled by no 
other attribute of our civilization, honored by all, de- 
nounced by none, and aped by everybody on earth. It 
stands a lone star, shining with a luster so high. All 
try to have it shine on them. Virtue in a nutshell is 
obeying our laws, criminal, civil and social. Virtue is 
based on the control of our passions ; to possess it is a 



36 Seedlings 



long step toward happiness, and as the saying is, he is a 
virtuous man, and so practices virtue for himself as 
well as for others. Virtue has no price. You cannot 
lend, borrow, buy, sell, steal or exchange it. It is not 
a prolific thing in nature. Fraud and liars use it for a 
cloak. Dig into their claim, the goods are not there. 
I know of no other virtue than obeying the law. If the 
reader doubts, the writer would be pleased to discuss 
it. It is the truth we want, and not talk. 

3uetice 



Differs from right in this way, right belongs to your 
body in choice of directing, while justice is divided be- 
tween you and the world. You cannot mistake. Right 
is yours to think and choose ; while only half of justice 
is yours, the other half belongs to whom you talk and 
trade with, hence the saying, deal justly between man 
and man. That is justice. If in a horse race, one jockey 
is lighter, he must put on weight so all the horses will 
carry the same load ; that is justice to all horses in the 
race. Justice as we know it does not exist in nature. 
It is an invention purely human, for human benefits, 
and its base is to protect the weak. Justice was made 
for ourselves and not for animals, and our laws are so 
based, yet the sense of justice so pervades us that to 
see a large beast abuse a small one, our sympathy 
goes out to the under dog. Still our natures are so 
unreasonable that a refined lady will look at a big cat 
torture a little mouse for an hour, with not one wink 
o* compassion, and the cat ten times as large at that. 



Seedlings 3 7 



This, you see, is not in line with our shouts of justice. 
Here you can see that justice stands for humanity, for 
this same lady would not see a big child abuse a small 
one one minute without protest. Such is our one-sided 
make-up. Now to get justice we put up out biggest 
and best struggle, from cradle to grave. It is reason- 
able a heavy stone will crush a small one and a strong 
animal kill the weak ; that is nature's way. Civiliza- 
tion says no, the strong of our age shall not injure the 
weak, that all have the same right to live. Here, then, 
is where we get justice again, for the large body gets 
justice from its bulk, the weak and small by law. So 
by weighing between the two to make them equal we 
get justice. Now, nature has it that might is just, 
and we know of no greater power, so of a necessity 
Ave must say nature is just. These two acts, law and 
nature, are supposed to be just, yet opposed to each 
other, and agreeable to theology. Godfathers, both. I 
cannot reconcile these things, the first or last is all 
wrong, for we cannot have two wrongs or two goods 
in these two acts, when opposed. 

Some say that justice is blind, and well they may, 
for ignorance is the cause of that saying. It is a plain 
fact that people do not understand justice as they 
should, or it would not get the name of being blind. 
Justice is more abused in all countries than any other 
attribute of humanity, and it is all for the want of us- 
ing reason, for if people would only reason more on 
justice, they would be wealthier, healthier, longer 
lived, happier, with a peace of mind mat would give 
their face a charming glow of tranquility with justice. 
They would be willing to face anybody, anywhere, 



38 Seedlings 



any time, under any circumstances, and with pride 
turn down the leaves of their past life to the public 
gaze. My advice is to study it, read it, think it over, 
walk with it, sleep with it, eat with it, for you cannot 
know it too well. My philosophy compels me to 
make a brother of it, and it has been a true friend to 
me. Often have I thought what trouble people would 
save by practicing justice, the sorrow it would save. 

The reader will excuse so much on this subject 
for it is vital to human happiness, and allow me to add 
if a man was marooned on an island there would be no 
such a thing as justice, because there is no one to deal 
justly or unjustly with, but everything would be right 
whatever he did. I speak to show the reader the dif- 
ference between justice and right. The coming of jus- 
tice reasons this way : First a sense of pain, then sym- 
pathy, then sentiment, then justice 

Reader, make it a study, you will never regret it, 
instead be proud. You will give justice, demand jus- 
tice, live a just life and be happy, the aim and end of 
all people's struggles Labor, love, hope, happiness, 
justice produce them all, and more. 



Beaut? 



There are as many beauties on the earth as 
there are colors, things and acts, for everything has 

A beauty of its own, as the rose, tree, pig. horsv 
cat, house, but don't forget, this beauty exists in com 
parison only. If there were only one of its kind, then 



Seedlings 39 



there would be no beauty because there would be no 
choice, hence no beauty. The base of beauty is not 
being familiar with a thing; beauty is the most danger 
ous attribute of the human family, for it can wound at 
fifty yards, — I mean without touching, — just looking 
or hearing. So you see beauty can make you love, 
without familiarity. We enslave ourselves by just 
looking, stronger than most of nature's ways. Beauty 
is not a constant thing, and so does not wear well. Its 
lustre dims with acquaintance. Still the love of beauty 
is through our brain, as water in plants. It's a tramp, 
a regular drifter and leads to more suicides, murders 
and heart breaks than most anything else. At first the 
young in late youth seem to think beauty covers, or at 
least, possesses virtue, but it is not always at home, 
instead, deception, the woe of love. Would you have 
pleasure, would you be happy, you should drop beauty 
in its tracks, ignore it, eye it with an eye of ice ; if you 
can do this there are hopes that some day you will be 
a free man. You have overcome that before which 
some of the greatest brains have crumbled into wrong. 
Beauty, while so lovable, is really the grave of most 
of our actions and efforts. Take advice, cut it out, 
bury it, sit on it, get it behind you somehow r , or in the 
end it will get you. It's a will-o'-the-wisp, St. Elmo's 
fire, a shadow that leads to anywhere, and perhaps 
your ruin. 

When men run against it, men or beauty go 
down, generally men. The best beauty in life is to 
use, not to look at, as an axe is a beautiful thing to cut 
wcod ; a spade is a beautiful thing to dig ground with, 
and so on, but beautv without usefulness is a house 



40 Seedlings 



without a door, boots without soles. 

I love beautiful things so much I find it exceed- 
ingly hard to weigh their worth in life. It's true our 
cells of beauty must be fed, but not at the expense of 
the body; it would not be wise to do so, for beauty 
lasts for a short time, while the body lasts for years. 
Look at a beautiful sunset, the gorgeous colored tints, 
watch how quickly they fade ; such is beauty in life. 
Trouble, somehow or other, seems to have a mortgage 
on it, for where you find great beauty keep your eyes 
open, his satanic hoof is near ; look for his track. Hap- 
piness and beauty are not brothers. 



£ime 

ffl 

Was there ever a thing in such demand as time? 
Time practically does not exist only as made. It has 
no more beginning or ending than space. What we 
call time is our make, and means distance. We say 
hours, days, months, years. Yes, we say that, but 
mean the earth has travelled so far through space. We 
start a clock, a pendulum, an hour glass ; when we 
stop them they traveled so far ; we mark it and call it 
time. The distance between starting and stopping is 
time, because distance in space has no start, neither 
has it a finish. Time is not past, but present. There 
is no future time until we make it. The sun rises and 
sets. The earth has gone so far we mark it time. We 
call all this time when it is not, but distance in space. 
Time is a wonderful thing. It grows all things, builds 
all things, destroys all things. Time is our goal, our 



Seedlings 4 1 



capital, father of hope, glory of the wise, cradle of 
prosperity, hell of the guilty, father of conditions and 
chance Joy and sorrow follow its lead. 

The wilderness of life through which we stray 
with the simple thoughts of a child, and the strangest 
thing about time is we long to see it go, glad when it 
has passed, knowing- at the time that its passing has- 
tens the end of our form. It seems the best way 
would be to live on present time and not anticipate. 
That is the reason why time is a burden to some peo- 
ple. I say to these people, do not let your body pas- 
sions control or bias your brain. We all would do 
better if we trusted our head more than we do. Time 
passes and never comes back. Like our forms, it is 
lost in dark eternal oblivion. Listen to reason, do 
it, for the highest possible condition for humanity. 
You have it now ; before you know, it is gone ; it is to 
be, it was, yet does not exist. Use it. 



Courteous 



To be courteous is a great help to one's fortune. 
It is the art of being agreeable. Some are so born, to 
be pleasing to everyone and sour to none. It is easy 
to acquire it ; for the sake of success try it. A sour 
face means troubled thoughts, pleasing to no one, 
while pleasant thoughts mean smiling face and agree- 
able to all. That is about its size and the right way 
to put it. Watch closely and in eight people out of ten 
you can tell the nature of thoughts that are filling their 
head, by the expression on their faces. Oh, yes, the 



42 Seedlings 



face is the brains' looking glass you may say of the 
whole animal kingdom. Here let me say that the 
major part of acts that occur in life are good or 
bad, and are just what you think they are, so do not 
let little things disturb you. It twists your thoughts 
and screws your face out of shape and then you are 
apt to look ugly and be discourteous. How pleasant 
it is to meet a courteous person, and how disturbing 
to meet a person sour and acidly. Try and be agree- 
able. You will like it in a little while, for it brings im- 
mense returns without effort on your part. Now I 
want you to try it for just one year, for its own sake, 
your friends' sake, your social sake, and for your own 
general benefit, your pleasure, in fact it is good for 
the community, and you will soon learn to hug your- 
self, besides everybody else. 

HttQer 



Promotes a very destructful conditon of the brain and 
lew people's health can stand a fit of anger often. It 
apparently disrupts circulation, digestion and equilib- 
rium of a person, and turns a mild tempered man into 
a beast. Take three people, one drunk, one crazy and 
one angry ; they are just alike. They do things that 
are unreasonable and hardly sane. Anger is the op- 
posite to laughter, for it disturbs thought, muscle ac- 
tion, when in complete control of a body. It causes 
decay of the body cells to set in. Notice h w one 
trembles after an anger fit. Anger is opposite to har- 
mony ; that soothes two bodies together, while anger is 



Seedlings 43 



nature's way to disrupt a body, for if continued, apo- 
plexy would follow. Anger has turned a cow's milk 
to poison and killed her calf. It is a mark of good 
breeding to control one's anger and in a measure you 
must learn to subdue it ; if not, you are in no condition 
to control or lead others. Now stop and think a mo- 
ment and look back on your trail and see the many 
wrongs you have done, through anger. One feels 
ashamed when he thinks of it. Worst of all you un- 
dermine your health and lose friends. It should be 
one of the first things taught children, to control their 
anger. I do not mean excitement, for excitement is as 
necessary for health as good food, for if people did 1 not 
have excitement they would become careless, indolent, 
lazy ; then a sleepy sense of monotony would enter 
our lives and we would soon begin to degenerate. Oh, 
yes, we want lots of excitement, but no anger. All 
things change. Everything is built by changes. We 
people are built out of earth, therefore we need 
changes. A strong wind is as good for the crops as 
the calm, so it is that excitement is our wind, sun- 
shine our calm. 

Cyclone is anger. A good healthy, stirring breeze 
is what we want, so do not forget that motion is life, 
stillness is death, and danger a human rattlesnake, a 
curse of curses, murder of joy. 



£be Education 



Of youth is and should be one of the most important 
duties of life ; that is, give children proper training for 



44 Seedlings 



the battle of life, and we all know they need all their 
parents can give them, if judged by the showing that 
some of them make. Here let me say that it is a big 
and fatal mistake for any one to think they can collect 
Knowledge in a child's head when there is nothing to 
receive or hold it. Now that is the mistake nearly all 
people I know make in this great country. Of course, 
great knowledge is almost sublime ; so is great health, 
great science of any kind, but it is only the few that 
are able to hold a science, while many seem to think 
the only perquisite for a person's fortune is an ed- 
ucation, when in reality it is an actual hindrance, for 
most all children sap the growth of their bodies to get 
a few facts into their head and facts seldom used in 
life at that, so when they mature their health, strength 
and physical endurance are so weak they do not have 
the ambiton to use what they have learned, neither 
can they develop the original strength of the brain ; 
they have not enough energy left to do it, and they go 
through life doing next to nothing, and in fact, still 
worse, they do not reproduce, so weakened are they 
from the brain pressure in youth. So to me, this kind 
of education carried by the present sentiment is an 
absolute curse to our blood. Now follow me a mo- 
ment. If our hens do not reproduce, we chop their 
heads off; if our cows do not reproduce the butcher 
gets them ; if our apple trees do not bear fruit, they 
get the axe ; if our business doesn't pay, we cut it out, 
and so with everything we handle, except our blood, 
and it apparently matters not our health. 

The child at five years old must go to school, yet 
five out of ten have not enough liver to build their 



Seedlings 45 



body, let alone extra brain work, but to school they 
must go just the same. You hear not one word about 
their nerves, muscle or energy, or general growth of 
the body, the most needed in life. This is a mistake, 
but then they graduated all right. Alas, the children. 
What does graduation do towards sustaining the wear 
and tear of life? Nothing, absolutely nothing, but in- 
stead give them health, with some learning, and they 
would bless their parents in after life. 

Ah ! But we are a selfish lot. Another dark fea- 
ture is, many of our children are not wanted at birth. 
They come by accident. Now some will say, I would 
not read such a book with such stuff in it as this. He 
is either a wind-bag or caught a bug, to write the 
above, but I tell you the truth. In my study of phil- 
osophy the above opened and grew like daylight in 
the morn, and more, I defy the wise to deny it if they 
can. Come parents, for God's sake, if not for your 
^ake, for the sake of your children's pleasure, give 
them a fighting chance to live. It is a mis- 
take people do not see this in the true 
light before children grow up. They enter 
This school plan is destroying the best mental and 
physical blood on the earth today or ever was. I mean 
the blood of the Puritans. It seems to be done through 
habit, the strongest of our senses. Give the children 
a show to live and enjoy life. Give them body and 
brain, and do not forget, it is a very few who can have 
both. Of the two the body is the best, for with health 
they can enjoy the best part of earth. Without health, 
life is naught but hell. 

It seems children should not begin to attend 
school before at least ten or twelve, and some fifteen 



46 Seedlings 



years of age, and some not at all. It is healthy people 
we want, not sLk ones. Let the body grow first, then 
you have something to build on, a foundation for 
schooling. Look it over. See if I tell near truth. If 
you find I do not, then denounce this little book as a 
fraud and lie, but do not do it on sentiment. Ascertain 
first by looking at the people, comparing them with our 
ancestry, who first settled our country — strong, able, 
mentally, physically, with courage of lions. Ah, they 
were the men and women who sensed no fear except of 
God. Now why have such become defunct? Why this 
growing small and weak? There is a reason. Do the 
people desire it and hunt for it? No, there is no proof 
it is so. But to find the cause, just glance at the air- 
tight houses, some with double windows, to keep out 
the air; compounded foods on our tables, and brain 
grinding lessons of the schoolroom, and the sending of 
infants to school. You will soon see why we are be- 
coming defunct, dying off the earth. I say it is down- 
right cruel for such blood to drift out. But if the peo- 
ple are so careless as to let themselves drift out, why 
talk is useless. Though I say, and can prove, it is a 
false and pernicious philosophy that teaches people 
from the earth, or anything that causes a people to de- 
cay, or drift out, is wrong and should be changed. 



Wlb? 2>o mae live? 



The question seems singular and light, but I tell 
you it is pertinent and weighty, with a solid reason 
underlying it. Many will say it is the will of God. 



Seedlings 47 



Others, we were made to live. Still others that nature 
implanted a love of life, and yet another, it is habit. 
And so it is, I hear many reasons why we live, but not 
the right one. I can find but one true reasonable rea- 
son why we live — that is, pleasure. It is pleasure to 
hunt for happiness, find it or not. And apparently all 
animals live for the same reason. Heat enough, we die. 
Cold enough, we die. Too much food, we die. Not 
enough, we die. Enough, we live. Now in everything 
I find the same. Therefore using this for the principle 
in reasoning, I conclude too much of anything kills, not 
enough kills. Just enough means life. Now to the 
question. Too much sorrow, a person dies. I see every 
man, woman and child hunting for things that please 
them. So do all animals seek pleasure. Truly you would 
naturally say we seek pleasure among the bad or op- 
posite. And in seeking for pleasure or good things, 
you would say we are living to hunt for pleasure, be- 
cause we are doing what we desire, the same as 
pleasure. Now of course were it not for the bad or sor- 
row, there would be no pleasure, but just a monotony, 
as a tree or stone. And here comes the balance be- 
tween good and bad. Enough bad, I mean suicide. Too 
much good means imbecility. And balance between 
the two means common life as we live. Then mix good 
and bad or things we love with a little more good than 
bad, people flourish. Reverse it, a little more bad than 
good, people languish, decay and die. And it is so with 
all nature. What I mean by good is any and every 
thing that is agreeable to our passions, and supports 
and builds our bodies So everything not agreeable to 
us is bad. Reader, reason this out, and prove it right 



48 Seedlings 



or wrong. If right, tell your neighbor. I say we live 
for pleasure. This reasoning to me is proof. I do not 
live for the sake of trouble I can find. Instead I try to 
avoid everything bad. And remember everything has 
an opposite, also to measure one by the other. If you 
will do this in your hunt for pleasure you will get more 
joy than any other way. Now what I mean is this. If 
you are told to believe, compare it with unbelief. So 
with everything else. 



Sentiment 



Now let us think about the strongest thing known 
that governs us. I mean sentiment, and it is the second 
power on this earth that we fear. The first is death. 
Sentiment is a condition not generally understood, yet 
more powerful than any other thing made by human 
nature It is sometimes caused by a shock, or a rapid 
growth of likes and dislikes, or some startling event, 
anger, pity, remosre, or a sense of shame, or gallant 
act. And it matters not whether it is just or unjust, 
there goes a subtle thought running through people's 
heads that a majority do not always know, yet assent 
to. That is sentiment, and is more times wrong than 
right. People grow on a general plan. And strange, 
yet true, no two grow alike in body, brain, thought, 
action or likes. Still, there is a trend together, such as 
love, habit, fighting, and most of the good attributes, 
which is the father of sentiment. Sentiment reminds 
me of a flock of birds. One will start, then the whole 
flock will rise, for no apparent cause or habit. So will 



Seedlings 49 



sentiment start and run over a whole community. In 
our heads there are some cells with half toned pictures. 
Now something is said or done by someone, and it 
agrees with these half pictures. So without stopping 
to consider or reason it out, we say yes, it looks to me 
that way, and so we act. That is sentiment, though if 
we took time to look the thing over, it might appear 
altogether dieffrent, and so change our opinion or 
sentiment. The reader can easily see how the thing is 
if he will stop and think it over. He will see we are 
all led by our opinion. I mean, of course, about things 
we do not know and have to guess at. So sentiment is 
a great factor in why we live. In sentiment, sympathy 
we agree, and live hand in hand with our surroundings. 
It is true we fear death. We fear to leave our friends. 
We fear the leap to the unknown, for none return. But 
pleasure is the base on which we live, and that base is 
supported by sentiment, habit, love and fear. It is a 
good thing and right thing to live, not only for self, but 
for others. For by making others happy, its shadow 
must fall a little on you. 



flDemor? 
to 

The most useful thing in our education. Everyone 
should cultivate it, should learn how to cultivate it, 
and not leave it to chance. With a few variations, life 
repeats itself. Then suppose you should remember 
half what you read. Why, you would be an encyclo- 
pedia or a living fountain of knowledge in a short time. 
And what a storehouse of facts to draw from. You 



5 Seedlings 



would be cock along the walk when you crowed. You 
would be invulnerable. Your chances of success would 
be as two to one with the average. There are many 
ways to improve your memory. I will n?me a few. 
Never study after eating hearty. Sleep with a low 
head. Do not read much. Repeat at night the doings 
of the day. Do it every day. Eat food that agrees 
with you. Do not eat food that makes you sleepy. Do 
not commit much to memory. Above all avoid consti- 
pation. Learn to look slowly at anything. If your 
memory is very bad, get the habit of writing down 
what you want to remember. Spend at least eight 
hours in bed. When you want to rest, lie down. Do 
not sit down, it will not rest the head. A person's 
ability is generally estimated by the memry. So if 
you hear said so and so has a bad memory, you can say 
to yourself, his knowledge is not very extensive. No 
doubt they learned lots, but have forgotten it. And 
they are just as if they had never learned anything. 
But I say to man, woman and child, improve your 
memory if you can. There is no trait in the human 
character of more use in daily life, in business or any- 
thing else on this earth. And it seems to me parents 
make a great mistake in not teaching it to their chil- 
dren, and it is a mystery to me that thoughtful men do 
not advocate teaching it in our schools, instead of 
many things that are taught of no value whatever to a 
child in after life. I think parents do not give children 
a fair show in life by letting the teaching of memory 
slip by, and trusting to chance, or possibly to the 
child's health. In the factory, on the street, on every 
corner we see its value. 



Seedlings 5 1 

fHMnfc 



What is the human mind? Philosophers, sages, 
thinkers and learned men have asked, but none have 
answered. It is a great question, but I think I have 
evidence enough to form an opinion. First let us rea- 
son. Mind appears to change. It seems to be gov- 
erned in part by the conditions that surround it. Ex- 
cept in extreme cases, where life is in danger, I notice 
persons pleasant at night, garrulous in the morning. 
The body appears the same. That is, we can tell no 
change in it. Yet a change has taken place in the 
mind during the night. Facts have not changed, but 
the trend of the mind. I see no reason for it. Can find 
no reason, save the mind records the condition of the 
body. Now if this is true, that the body changes the 
mind, it must have a material influence on it. And if 
a material change has trend to govern it, twisting it, 
as the pictures in the brain flicker, from the twisting 
and trembling of the cells and nerves. This brings the 
thought that the human mind is made up of the flash- 
ing of pictures in the brain, or, say reflection of the 
brain, as substance reflects a cloud of pictures, inter- 
mingled with one or two more prominent than others. 
This is mind, so called. Some say, I have a mind to do 
so and so, yet do not do it, and why? The pictures in 
their cells have changed by outside influence or the 
pressure inside has increased or diminished. Hence 
the change. Yet the heat of the body remains the 
same. No proof of either. Then I reason the pictures 
remain the same, and the mind or will power remain 



52 Seedlings 



the same. For will power, I think, is the steady shine 
of the central picture that first started the mind on that 
one particular trend. Therefore it seems the mind is 
made and changed at the will of the pictures that com- 
pose our learning, and is no more a fixture of the 
body than the pictures are. So the mind is but a re- 
flection of a multitude of pictures. Let us reason fur- 
ther. You plant a seed, which is matter. The growth 
is matter. Try anything else. The results will be mat- 
ter. You only get matter from matter by changing its 
form, but you have the matter just the same. And so 
I reason, matter produces matter. And the mind must 
be matter, because matter produced it, supports it, de- 
stroys it. Notice a child growing. As it learns, the 
mind grows in proportion. In other words the mind 
grows just as fast as the body grows in knowledge, no 
faster. As a rule the body stops growing and grows 
old while the mind is still growing. And I infer it 
grows as long as pictures continue to be received in the 
brain. You know how easy it is to forget. You know 
how easy to have the mind wandering. Well indiges- 
tion will do the first, drunkenness the last. Rum and 
other things will shake the cells so that a steady 1 pic- 
ture will not show. So the mind gets twisted and 
shaky. Now if the mind was anything but matter, or 
its production, rum would not affect it. I would ad- 
mire to reason out this with anyone interested to get at 
the truth or falsity of my showing. Readers, consider 
this an invitation to reason this out. And while the 
heat of body remains the same, the circulation of the 
blood changes. Hence the change of mind. 



Seedlings 53 

WBbat Us Xife? 



In all ages of the world this has been a stumbling 
block for human kind. Still we know it is material, be- 
cause it moves matter. Yet philosophers, sages, 
learned men and all thinkers have spent their lives try- 
ing to find what life is. Now instead of looking at it as 
it is, they hunted the planets and all over the earth, 
chemistry, botany and all things they thought would 
give any light on the subject, but all remained dark. 
They did not and do not seem to think that the same 
thing and way that causes a tree or animal to grow, 
started our life. Guff, you say. Let us get down near 
the bottom of this mystery, puzzled on so long. All 
scientists agree that life is in matter or is matter. And 
also that all things that remain still are dead, as a dead 
tree, dead horse. Then to get life, we must have mo- 
tion. To get motion as we know it, we must have 
power. To get the power we must have the conditions 
right. And the conditions as I reason them are these: 
Go to a running brook of soft water in a sheltered spot. 
Deposite a handful of decayed limbs and branches of a 
tree. Lay them three or four inches thick, and where 
the sun shines part of the day at least. In two or three 
weeks or more there will come on the sticks, the lower 
ones that the water washes, a green fungus. Put under 
a good glass and this fungus turns out to be a minute 
forest, each tree perfect. Now the act of the water 
caused the growth by passing up through the obstruc- 
tion. And life is the act of water passing through, or 
what some call evaporation. Of course, the water con- 



5 4 Seedlings 



tains the material that is left on the obstructing 
branches, and in time it will grow a large piece. I have 
seen it a foot square, and two inches thick. So the act 
of the water going through is growth and life. Not the 
water, nor the sticks, nor sun, but the motion of the 
water passing up through is life. If you should put 
them all together in winter without evaporation, there 
is no growth. But to start life or growth, just start 
evaporation. Life begins then and there. So then life 
is water, sun, air and streaner. Growth is the same. 
Now stop and think. You will find that animals grow 
from the middle, trees from the roots. That is, water 
taken inthe stomach evaporates all over the body, and 
out through the pores. And the roots of a tree suck 
water from the ground, which goes up through the 
trunk, and out through the leaves. So in growth we 
should say animals grow from the middle, and trees, 
shrubbery and grasses from one end. There is no 
spark of life needed, for the act of evaporation is life. 
The sun heats the leaf. The leaf heats the water in 
the leaf and the water passes off in vapor. That creates 
the vacuum in the tree, and that vacuum pulls the 
water into the roots. Such is the growth of trees. Peo- 
ple take water in the stomach. The heat of the body' ex- 
pands it, and it passes out through the pores. And 
when that stops growth and life are done. Growth and 
life are one and the same. Through man's cowardice, 
egotism and the pleasure of living forever, he from 
earliest life, has attached a something to life in the 
shape of a foreign substance, for the spark of life. It 
gave a great power to the priesthood over the people. 
And thev fostered it, for it brought a iroocl living- and 



Seedlings 5 5 



easy life. But it is all moonshine. Just look at it as it 
is. Let the conditions be right, and all vegetable and 
animal life will not grow without the evaporation of 
water. I defy the world to disprove it. Stones grow 
from adhesion, and metals grow from heat or under 
great pressure. I know all theologians will shout a big 
no, with derision. But I do not mind that. It is only 
hot air mixed with what they have been taught. 
What I want is to have some one disprove with the use 
of reason, and not belief, that the growth of animals is 
caused by anything else than by the evaporation of 
water, conditions being equal or nearly equal. I have 
tried to make my meaning plain. If not, come and 
reason with me. All are welcome. 



Xifces an& Dislikes 

ffl 

As a rule, a person's likes and dislikes are a key to 
their makeup. Likes and dislikes may come through 
habit or be born so, it maters not which. By them 
you can get one's trend. I will give a few examples. 
Some are very risky, and if things are propitious, they 
are apt to go to extremes. Some are fond of acids, two 
to one, they like sour food. When you see a person 
who admires to see a thing done quick, look at that one 
as a kind of a rusher. They are not, as a rule, thinkers. 
The people who like pale, sad colors are generally 
thoughtful ones. But if brilliant colors are their like, 
look for people bright and active and impulsive. A 
person who is a great talker seldom thinks a thing out. 
A person who believes small things, will great. If you 



56 Seedlings 



see a person who loves long stories, they are apt to be 
crowded to the wall. It pays to watch people. People 
are about all alike in this, and there is no harm in it. It 
injures no one. Still, much good. It teaches you to 
keep your eyes ever on the alert, so no one can get 
behind you. It also gives the watcher a broad view of 
humanity. With practice one grows so proficient that 
he can almost anticipate the doing of some people, 
and sometimes helps in the great battle. I think the 
greatest study, or one of them, is humanity, for if you 
properly understand it, you can almost have your own 
way. That means wealth and pleasure, without rob- 
bing, stealing or cheating, not a stranger nowadays. 



3u&gc b? Hcts 



Acts are a reflection of the mind, always barring b 
few, who love to play foxy. But deceiving never paid 
It is a curse to anyone who uses it. Its fruits never 
paid a mill of interest. Suppose you have a bird. You 
see a strange cat gently approaching it. Instantly you 
are suspicious. Why? Because the manner of the cat 
shows its mind in relation to the bird. It gives you the 
impression that the cat likes birds to eat. You have 
heard this before about cats. You have ako heard how 
slippery some people are. Therefore if fou see a man 
trying to get behind you, why the act is unhealthy, and 
yon think of being robbed, and you are justified in so 
thinking. If a person steals from you, he will from 
others. The act of a person stealing one cent shows 



Seedlings 5 7 



he would steal a hundred, a thousand, or anything 
else, conditions being right. A person bringing a story 
to you, will carry one from you. The dog who brings 
a bone, shows a desire to carry one. You will watch 
him. My philosophy teaches me to watch people's 
acts and ses their turn of minds. If you do, you get the 
habit of ignoring little acts. You make a mistake sure. 
And don't forget that they who make the fewest mis- 
takes are most successful in what they undertake. As 
a rule persons act their thoughts and the attitude 
they assume in relation to a thing. You must analyze 
and follow the trend, to meet them if you would win. 
My experience has shown of those who read this not 
over one in a thousand will profit by it. Too bad. 

mwm 



Character 

ffl 

Character is the mental part of a person exposed 
to the public, the same as our clothes. Be they good or 
bad, they look straight at it. If it is good, it obeys the 
law. If it is bad, it breaks law. So doing either deter- 
mines one's character. Character is made by what 
you say and do, and everybody makes character. Mak- 
ing character requires hundreds of acts, while not 
stunning the sense of propriety or giving the impres- 
sion that you are not just what you seem to be. To 
illustrate — not attending to business, loafing in public 
places, coarse or vulgar talk, not keeping good hours 
are a small few that deprecate in the eyes of the public 
and hurt a person's character. Character is the picture 
you show to the people, and is made out of acts, atti- 



58 Seedlings 



tudes, talk and general behavior. Sometimes a word, 
a smile, asong or an associate has hurt one's character 
that would require years to eradicate. Even a sus- 
picion has done it. A good character is a very great 
help towards getting along, and a long, long step 
towards happiness. Character should be founded on 
actual worth, which means good, moral acts to every- 
body and everything. Moral means kind and just acts, 
mild attitude to all the animal kingdom. Gentle, not 
fierce here and kind there, but the whole trend of one's 
conduct should be pleasing, courteous and never bor- 
ish. Every nation is known by its flag, piratical and 
civil. And so every person is known by his character. 
It is the flag of the man, his royal ensign, known by all 
his friends. As his flag, it represents his social life and 
his amount of manhood with his humanity and jus- 
tice. Oh, yea, a man's character is his flag all right, 
and everybody does or does not respect it according to 
its worth. How nice it is to reflect on your friends 
some of the lustre of your flag, besides transmitting 
honor to your relatives. Let it be said he is a man of 
worth, sterling worth, and unblemished character. Do 
not forget you are just what people think of you. Just 
that, nothing more. And also it is just as easy to be a 
gentleman as a gutter snipe. The first, honor, health 
and pleasure. The second, suspicion, want and dis- 
honor to friends and relatives. They are so far apart, 
they are not comparable, opposed to each other as fire 
is to water. The old axiom, he carries his flag on his 
arm. I hope the reader has one to be proud of. Long 
may it wave. 






Seedlings 59 

facial SiQtts 



Ee sure and watch all faces on the earth. Study 
them. Thoughts flicker on them. Even wild animals 
for some cause, watch the face of everything. Truly 
speaking, a person's face should be our chief study. 
Ninety men out of a hundred show their thoughts in 
their faces. A twitching of the lips, pallor round the 
mouth, quick and decisive movement, quiver of the 
eyelids, pupil of the eye swelling, bird-like breathing, 
jerking of the head, hard expression of the mouth, 
uneasy body movement, tight shutting of the mouth, 
dry lips, red face, a stern manner, the voice grows hard, 
are a few of the signs in the face and manner that go 
to show what is taking place in the brain, or what a 
person is thinking about. With close study one can 
acquire a sharpness for understanding these signs that 
i:> astonishing, and can read the average person as a 
book, when not in repose. Though not taught in our 
academies, the philosophy of motion should be learned 
by all. It is a language in itself, and is seldom wrong, 
because it is the muscles telling in a mute manner what 
the mind is doing, plans being formed. You have no 
other way of guessing what they are, so study them. 
Also the art of controlling the facial expression. It is 
the greatest known art. I never saw a person who 
could do it, though some are born way up in the art, 
but few have adopted it. A person who can do it is a 
wonder. It is a dividing sign between ignorance and 
intelligence, savage beast and intelligent man. It 
shows the superiority of knowledge, when measured 



60 Seedlings 



with ignorance. The finest and hardest known thing 
that is possible to do. Study, study, study. The rhymer 
says. 

Attempt the end 

And never stand in doubt. 

Few things there are 

That time will not find out. 

Cover the expression of your face somehow. Oh, 
the telltale is a wonder to master. 



Acting ZTbouQbte 



What one thinks, admires, loves makes the man, 
woman or child. Unknown, many people act their 
thoughts and never reason them, in fact do a thing 
unconsciously. Let some people enter a curio hall 
and you will see them separate and go different ways. 
Each will go his way of thinking, and by observing 
them, six times out of ten you can tell their thoughts, 
what they are thinking about. Now an act is done 
twice — first in the head, then with muscles. It does 
seem we ought to think with care, and care what we 
think about. Do not let your thoughts run on loose 
things, for sometime when the conditions are right 
you will do or say a foolish thing that will embarrass 
or make you feel silly. Think of good things, honor- 
able things, things that if you happen to forget your- 
self, will bring no disgrace. Do not allow your mind to 
bear long on one subject. Change to some other one. 
Then when you come back to the subject they will be 



Seedlings o ' 



rested, so you will see new points and understand 
much easier. But above all, do not allow yourself to 
think of self. Think of something else. If you don't, 
von vvill soon grow egotistical and become a stink to 
everyone and cause a laugh behind your back. Then 
you will become a bore disliked by all. Let your mind 
run on larger things than your surroundings. And 
remember thoughts first, then acts. The two make 
character by acting thoughts. 



©tie's XKHorJ) 



He gave me his word. How simple to do it. Yet 
simple as it is, it is the foundation of manhood. On 
his word a man of honor or a liar. Of a truth I may 
say, all there is to a man is his word. Just a few cells 
of albumen collected together. That's all. His word, 
if he keeps it, changes these cells into a superior being, 
a man of honor. A man may be as wise as ten philoso- 
phers, and bravery itself, cute and cunning, with 
charity, sympathy, beauty, health, wealth. All these he 
may have, but if he does not keep his word and prom- 
ise, he is all rot. He is no good as a man. He is just 
a stone, a stick, a cipher, a savage, a man without true 
character. Who would trust him? Those who know 
him would not. His word ignored behind backs, he 
is Mr. Nobody by those who know him. But the man 
who keeps his word and promise is honored, respected, 
though homely in person, poor in purse. Thinking 
people court his friendship, and he is looked on as rock 
of truth against whose flinty word the liars go down to 



62 Seedlings 



grief and compassion. A man of his word is the salt 
of the earth, for he protects our social laws and custom, 
and is the very essence of our civilization. The true 
meaning of our philosophy is a thing as it is, in other 
words truth. And true manhood should represent the 
same. Tie to it. Live with it, and die with it. A man's 
word should be as good as his bond. You hear his 
neighbors say behind his back, he is a solid man. You 
can believe and trust him. What he says is iaw, for lie 
says what he means, means what he says. You can 
bank on him. He is a man clear through. His bond 
and word are alike, good as gold. 

Now just a word more, and let me call your atten- 
tion to this fact, and do not neglect it. And that is, 
keep your word in little things, 'the small things yju 
say make good. It is small things heaped together 
make big ones. A grain of sand is not large, but 
enough of them make a seashore. It is just what you 
say in small things starts a habit (strongest thing in 
life) that grows on you. And though you do not se_.se 
its growth until the habit of keeping your word be- 
comes stronger than your five senses. And before you 
realize it, you become a superior man. It is the one 
thing in man we can rely on. Try it. It will repay a 
hundred per cent. And readers, it will build your 
courage. In time you will grow braver, and n^ver a 
sneak. I do not think I put it too strong when I say it 
is a man's glory, honor, household, business, living, 
happiness, town, state and nation. There is not a 
thing more honorable, nor substantial, nor good, nor 
noble than the man who stands behind his word. All 
honor to him, may futurity say of him, and no greater 



Seedlings 63 



thing can be said : His word was greater than his love 
for that tinsel named money. This is my philosophy in 
a word. 



trouble 



Is a bad egg, at least so called. Yet trouble is as good 
as anything else. It is the measure of ease or joy. You 
could not have a good egg, if there were no bad ones, 
nor bad ones if there were no g'ood ones, for if all eggs 
were bad there would be no good ones. That is just 
the way with trouble and pleasure. You could not 
have one without the other, for if it was all trouble 
there would not be any pleasure, nor any pleasure with- 
out trouble. Therefore one is just as good as the 
other. Now, another step, and say, trouble is good 
when not bad, and good is a trouble when not good. 
Now we have said about all there is about it. All other 
talk is only proof and explanations. Now my philoso- 
phy is this way. Suppose there was a man who got 
everything he wanted, it would follow- he would have 
no trouble, and another man did not get the help he 
wanted, then it follows, the last man gets lots of 
trouble. Now the result of this reasoning is this. 
That not getting all he wants creates to him trouble. 
So it would seem that a man should have his wants 
consist of a few things ; the fewer the better, for that 
would mean less trouble, but lying behind this want 
of ours is our five senses and habits which father our 
wants, so you can see we make at least three-quarter of 
our troubles, which we call bad, while gratifying our 



64 Seedlings 



passions we call good. 

Now let us reason a little on this. Suppose a stray- 
dog entered a man's house and created no end of trou- 
ble, chasing the cat, upsetting the chairs, so it took the 
whole family to get him out, and they finely got rid of 
him. Now suppose that same dog goes to another 
man's house, gets in and begins to play with the chil- 
dren. The father came home and said it was lucky for 
a strange dog to come to the house. So they fed him 
and kept him and were happy with him. Now by this 
it was just as the people thought. Here is a thing 
that caused trouble and joy, while the dog of itself 
was neither good nor bad, yet produced both trouble to 
one, joy to the other. The first family made their own 
trouble. Had they liked the clog, no trouble. Now 
barring a few exceptions, everything in life is the 
same, and so I say we make most of our trouble and 
joy also. Therefore, if we think a thing is trouble, it 
is ; if a pleasure, it is. As I said before, our desires not 
gratified is trouble, so make them few or make up your 
mind to this, that most everything that happens (some 
believe all) is for the best, and be happy. 



<5oo& Untellect 



When the term intellect is used it means many 
things. I presume to mention a few. It means a cer- 
tain person has a clear, quick way in their heads of 
understanding anything new. They can grasp it 
quicker than another person. It means a person with 
a fair knowledge that is analogous to this something 



Seedlings 65 



new, and it means a deeper, stronger, more lasting 
picture collection in the brain. It means a good flow 
of good blood to the head. It means a more sensitive 
and healthy bunch of nerves and other things, among 
them a wholesome digestion. It is a big thing to be 
what is called apt. Some say quick witted. It is good 
capital to have, for it is with you all the time, and al- 
ways ready for use. You can increase your intellect 
the same as most other things by practice. It is well 
known it grows nearly perfect, and I have proof that 
it does. Improve your memory by reciting at night 
doings of the day. Do not read much. Let what you 
read be facts. Much reading mixes the memory by a 
deep impression of pictures in the brain cells. So if you 
read much, it makes impressions that are light and 
soon fade out. What we all want is good, clear, ac- 
curate pictures that will stick. Hence you will have 
good memory, good intellect, see things clearly and 
quickly. And use what knowledge you have. To be 
called apt is a recommendation very valuable. Then 
folks cannot call you a dogan, or pea head. Practice 
will do it. 



2)o We (Set Gbe fiDoet ©ut ©f Xife? 



It is a fact we all try, but do we do it. What I 
mean is, do we squeeze all the pleasure out of things 
that come our way, for we live for pleasure only. Let 
us reason a little about it, but do not forget there are 
many sides to this question, and I think I have the 
biggest side down to rock. Suppose two men, A and 



66 Seedlings 



B, enter an orchard with baskets to pick some apples 
tor home use. Soon they approach a fine looking tree 
loaded with fruit. A looks at them and says, "These 
are good enough for me," and begins to fill his basket. 
B says, 4 'I will look further," and so wanders to an- 
other tree more to his liking, and fills his basket. On 
their way home they began to argue who had the best 
apples. They uncovered their baskets and the result 
was this. A had a good lot of russets ; B had a splen- 
did lot of King apples, worth considerably more than 
A's. Now, would it not be fair to say B had the best 
of the apple hunt? I think it would. Now, by this 
simple example I have described human life just as it 
is. We all start in youth to hunt for pleasure ; our or- 
chard is the whole world and at the close of life we 
return home with our baskets, which is our fortune, 
and what have we got? We have spent all our lives 
hunting the sweet apples of contentment. If I should 
judge by what I have seen, not much, because none of 
us seem willing, nor do we uncover our baskets, but 
if we did uncover, what do you suppose would be seen? 
The first peep you would see the white bony skeleton 
of hope, a few wizened aspirations, some dried wishes, 
a whole bundle of disappointments. This is about the 
result in the hunt for the sw r eet apple of joy, and it is 
an exception to find anything else in the average bas- 
ket of life at its close, though some seem to be experts 
on lemons. This is the average life as I have found it. 
Now this doesn't seem just right. We all hunt for pleas- 
ure in our own way. Do we get it? If v T e do, we 
hide it, and I notice few seem ready to uncover, or do 
uncover, and so I think it will be safe to say B got the 



Seedlings 67 



best of the apple hunt. Now why is it so few get it? 
There are reasons ; my philosophy reasons, the princi- 
pal course is we do not conform to the conditions that 
surround us while on the hunt ; we do not get half the 
good out of things that come our way. Remember 
the old saying, when in Rome, do as Romans do. All 
conditions have good in them for some one. The 
trouble seems to be that we have not sufficient 
knowledge to extract the good that is in them ; this 
external want of something we have not got, but see 
elsewhere, is one of the reasons that suck our condi- 
tions dryer. This greed that we are cursed with, get 
more than some one else, is never satisfied. Why not 
say to yourself, I guess I will wring all the good out 
of present conditions, they won't last long; they are 
always changing, and so be ready for the next when 
they come, for old ones never come back, only seem- 
ingly so. Why not with reason hunt for the best 
things in the conditons that are yours, for every man 
at times has them, instead of thinking of things that 
will perhaps never come, as you picture them? Are 
you unsuccessful? Then try the way I speak of. You 
cannot fail to get more of the good things than any 
other. You at least get the best of what nature offers 
you and that is a step forward in getting the most out 
of life. It means more than goods; it means getting 
friends and holding them as such. The making of 
friends is without doubt the greatest achievement you 
meet in this life, though I stay with nature and place 
health first. My humble opinion of this subject is 
this : Whoever can buy, beg, borrow, steal, or coerce 
the greatest number of hours to pleasure gets the most 



68 Seedlings 



out of life. 1 mean the kind of fun one enjoys in his 
own way and it matters not what it is, or how it is, so 
long as it does not interfere with the happiness of any- 
one else. My philosophy teaches that none but honest 
pleasure can make true happiness that endures to the 
end of life. My advice is harmonize yourself with your 
surroundings or cut them out. What I mean by all this 
talk is this: You and I love candy; we have two 
sticks the same size; we sit down to eat and enjoy 
them. I chew my stick down in five minutes, while 
you suck yours ten. Now I claim this, that you spent 
twice the time eating yours and got twice the pleas- 
ure, because I only got five minutes and you ten, 
therefore it should be our aim to follow it through life. 
You will be successful beyond imagination. Do not 
att:mpt to bull or force nature; if you do you're a 
b eaten man from the first. You can oil, coax and co- 
erce, but not beat her. Prolong a joy you like, do not 
cut it short. 



Sleep 



Appears to be a very important part of our lives. I 
know of no one thing that will refresh our body like a 
good sleep. Time should be divided this way: Infant 
six-eighths; youth one-half; maturity one-third time 
in sleep. Sleep by all evidence that I can find was ac- 
quired by habbit. Way back to the period when the 
progenitors of the human race did not have rich store- 
houses of grain and beef, aye, before they dropped 
the cocoanut to crack the shell, food was limited and 



Seedlings o9 



hard to get at times, and it is perfectly reasonable 
when they did get it they simply gorged themselves, 
so the mass of food in their stomachs absorbed most 
of their blood as it does now, and the brain, for the 
want of food, took a rest. We now call it sleep. Fish 
cannot sleep ; they have no eyelids. Snakes sleep 
eight days, after a good feed. A hearty meal makes 
most people drowsy, stupid and tired. Why ? Because 
it requires so much of the blood to digest it the body 
does not get enough to run it, hence a tired feeling. 

You hear some say their muscles feel tired; this is 
a mistake. Muscles of the body are about all alike, 
and never tire of themselves; it is the brain that goes 
tired. Here is the proof. Your heart starts at birth 
and goes until you die, and is but a common muscle. 
Why not tire? I reason this way: It has the use of 
all the blood in the body and so plenty to eat; not so 
the poor brain. It is located at the top of the body 
and does not get as much as it ought to keep up a 
normal activity, hence sleep. So you see. the heart 
never rests on sleep, if it did, we would cease to live. 

Now and then a man crops up who can do without 
sleep. He is well balanced, with enough blood to run 
both head and stomach, without starving any part of 
the body. All facts point to no sleep to the progeni- 
tors of primitive man, and the fact of a hearty meal, 
pulling the blood from the brain, not only of human 
beings, but all animals that sleep, to me is proof that 
sleep is artificial, and was contractd by habit. It is 
not original. Another reason is the habit of walking 
erect ; means a dead lift of blood to the head on an 
average of fourteen inches vertical. Scientists tell us 



70 Seedlings 



that in sleep and rest a person should recline in a hor- 
izontal position, with the head not elevated above the 
bod}', so blood will flow to the head by natural gravi- 
tation and not by muscular exaggeration to force it 
there. By my reasoning I can see the cause of so 
much nervousness, by sleeping with the head high. 
The brains and nerves of the head do not get enough 
to eat and are half starved, and so are weak and shaky, 
and seldom well, and I am thus convinced that to be 
healthy a person should cut out the pillow. I have 
done so for over thirty years. I also sleep on a hard 
bed that holds the body straight, not bent as a bow. 
Try it, it will repay you ; it will not cost much. 



IRature's WHa^s 



From childhood to manhood. I have heard it talked 
and referred to and extolled in every form. How much 
better nature's way was, as compared with the human 
way of doing things. Now I fail to see in crude na- 
ture a superior form of government than is shown by 
the superior human being. Sympathy and justice are 
not found in nature, nor one ounce of pity, except 
parents' love for their young. Everything bows to 
might and so we say in nature might is right, but Ave 
clo find all the fine points of our civilization in nature 
lacking, what we call humanity for instance. Why 
the most unreasonable and wanton cold blooded cru- 
elty you will see most everywhere if one cares to look 
for it. but if any one claims that the making and en- 
forcing of human laws are simply the lner part of na- 



Seedlings 7 1 



tnre extended, I have nothing more to say only this, I 
do not wish people to refer to good old nature in a 
sympathetic or judicial way, for naught but cruelty 
and injustice are found in nature. As proof of this, 
watch a cat ill use a mouse, and you will soon be con- 
vinced. It is well known big fish eat little ones, sim- 
ply because they are able. All through nature you 
find no law, no humanity, no sympathy, no justice, no 
protection of the weak, nothing but the cold relentless 
might is right, interlaced with the most horrible cold 
blooded and wanting acts of cruelty. This is nature 
as I have found it in seventy-two years of life. Try a 
natural way on its merits. 



Wo 1Rot la? IPour Ibeao ©n £be Block 



My philosophy does not reason out any great gain 
by laying one's neck on the block, but if some great 
power had put a premium on human suffering it 
would be different. I fail to find any such thing in 
this world, therefore I see no great virtue in it. I reason 
that the primitive strong man was arrogant and that 
humility w r as not considered a cardinal virtue ; while I 
do not agree that a man should carry his ability on his 
sleeve, I do think a person should have courage 
enough to stand up and back his convictions. I ad- 
mire modesty, but when it smothers a person's ability 
it has ceased to be a virtue or respected. I have never 
yet learned wherein the gods condemned anyone hav- 
ing hope and assurance in their hear] that they would 
be successful in anv undertaking:. To succeed one 



72 Seedlings 



must have confidence in one's self as a rule. There are 
times when success comes by accident, which I do not 
include in this reasoning. Many times over-confidence 
causes failure, but modesty, lack of confidence, humil- 
ity are the mainsprings of people not trying to start, 
and of no success, if they do start. 

Therefore I do not take any timber in anything 
that will hold a person back. Tell us what you can 
do and do it ; not with what we call gall, but in a de- 
termined, resolute manner, but do not become a mar- 
tyr, it does no good; many good things have been lost 
by doing it. 



£ahe Care ©f £be Bo&? 



The world believes in taking cold, so do I, but the 
world does not guess at the cause nor what you get 
when you get cold. Now science has taught me that 
the air in which we live is full of animals. When they 
enter our bodies, we say that we have caught cold. 
Now to keep animals confined you must feed them. 
When I was young, I remember others that were 
young with me, we would eat from one to two pounds 
with liquids, three times a day and would have a cold 
somewhere in the body about all the time. When I 
turned forty for a certain reason I cut it down to one- 
half or three-quarter pounds to each meal three times 
a day, and the colds left me. I have not had a bad 
cold since ; am now over seventy ; health better than 
when forty. Can you explain it? Possibly not, but I 
think I can. The truth of it is, and I fear it is the 



Seedlings 73 



same with the most of the people, that we eat more 
than our system can assimilate, so that probably a 
quarter enters our bodies as dead wood and the bug 
we call a cold enters our bodies to feed on it. When 
the bug: eats it all up, it leaves the body and 1 we get 
better of our cold, so called ; in other words, we all 
overeat, either in quantity, quality or kind, and con- 
not digest it, so we have a surplus left in our systems, 
that is food for the cold germ, fever germ, and most of 
our sickness. You say you do not believe. Good. 
L.et me prove it by just one example. You know, for 
almost every one knows, that by injecting what is 
known as kind pock, ^ou make people immune from 
the smallpocks, Why? Because the kind pock eats 
the food in the body; smallpocks live on; when the 
smallpocks comes the germs can find no kind of food 
to live on and cannot stay in the body and so get out 
It is agreed by all savants today that fevers are small 
animals' and so must be fed ; it is plain then that no 
food, no fever. 

Now I will tell you one of my pet ideas, so keep 
your shirt on and ice your head. In my opinion, ev- 
erything on the earth, around the earth, in the earth, 
including rocks, ground, trees, fire, water, are not but 
different kinds of animals in different stages of exist- 
ence. The very cells of our bodv are of themselves 
separate and distinct animals and do not die when lite 
leaves the body ; they continue to live three or four 
days, so while helping to form a part of our body they 
?re in reality an animal, yet live on our blood, just as 
kind pock, smallpock, fevers, and most other diseases 
do. If your body contains no surplus, unassimilated 



74 Seedlings 



food, you can expose yourself to cold, heat and water, 
and get no cold or anything else. I have experiment- 
ed for thirty years and ever found it the same. By eat- 
ing too hearty meals I will catch cold. I mean more 
food than I ought to eat. Rheumatism is a sickness 
that yields only to starving the patient. I know we 
are all starved for want of the right kind of food, We, 
as a rule, eat food that is good to the taste, and not for 
bone, muscle or nerves. 



i£nv? 



Envy is a bird of all climes and all conditions in 
life. It is a resident of most all heads, learned and un- 
learned, and it as miserable a pauper as human head 
ever grew. There are two kinds of envy — good and 
bad. I reason this way. It is good to envy one's vir- 
tue, or health or good temperament and such like, for 
one will be likely to imitate them. I call that good 
envy, and the kind that is good for all mankind. It at 
least seems so to me. But what I style as bad envy is 
a ruffian to the manor born, and about as sore a worm 
as ever gnawed a person's brain. It is a thought that 
is never satiated, but always gnawing. If they see 
a new hat, or coat, or dress on most anybody, they be- 
gin in their mind to think, oh, my ! how proud some- 
body is, how stuck up we feel, and they seem to like 
such thoughts, and a lot of other stuff similar. Now 
this is all wrong. Such thoughts do not belong in a 
square person's head, and why? Let me tell. If they 
happen to see a person lame, or deformed or one 



Seedlings 75 



whose lace is contorted, they do not envy them. Oh, 
no. But instead they will say, ain't that something 
awful. Now just see what a one-sided people we are. 
Because a person is homely, they do not like him. 
Yet did they ever think that the same power that made 
these people made them? I doubt if they did. That 
shows they are one sided, what I call a biased person. 
Do they know chance, time and conditions gave 
the neAv hat, new dress new coat as well as the deformed 
body the homely face? Shame on anybody to be so 
unmindful of truth, and of their surroundings. It is 
one of the most unjust, unfair things to be found in the 
world, and the lowest trait of the human family. A 
new hat is to be proud of, why not? Pride is one of the 
springs that drive man, woman and child ahead. What 
would we be without it? Merely a cipher. The thought 
to excel is the noblest attribute of mankind. It has 
built the things we have, and continues to build. The 
love to excel is not wrong, but envy is. Why, do you 
say? Because the small, pinched intellect of those who 
use the bad side of envy, would, if they could, retard 
the using of that which was fairly and squarely earned 
by pride and thrift, an honest ambition. And why is 
that you ask? Because it benefits everybody and not 
the envyist. A very unhealthy crew are they who use 
envy as stuffing for a very small head. 

Should I be asked to define envy, I would say it is 
a verbal acknowledgment of inferiority, of their power 
to get new and good things, or, wrong ambition, 
caused as a rule by ignorance, in fighting the battle of 
life. I reason as before said. The sight of new clothes 
should arouse an honest ambition to get the same or 



76 Seedlings 



excel them. That is the way nations, states, cities, 
towns and families are built. Envy will turn the 
sweetest nature sour, bitter as wormwood, creates 
angry thoughts, makes trouble with neighbors. There 
is absolutely no philosophy in the black part of it. Be 
a true human. Raise yourself above it, and cut it out. 



fBMstafcee 



Mistakes are as natural as it is to breathe. Every- 
body makes mistakes. But the thinking persons do 
three things with a mistake — that is, learn by it, sel- 
dom repeat, never forget. They succeed. A mistake 
does not set the energetic to weeping or cast them 
down. If you want a fire to burn, persecute it by 
agitating it, such as blowing air on or through it. So 
with whatever you want to do, agitate it. It will never 
grow if it is business by lying still, and the time spent 
in mourning over it should be used in hunting a rem- 
edy. There is a little rhyme old as the hills but golden, 
and one I have tried to follow. 

If you try and don't succeed, 

Try, try again. 
Time will bring you your reward, 

Try, try again. 

I think it best to try and forget them. Life is 
naught but a bundle of mistakes, and cannot be any- 
thing else, as no one knows the future, nor ever will. 
For the good today is bad tomorrow. And the bad to- 
day is good tomorrow, and such is the way of life. But 



Seedlings 77 



they who extract good wisdom from their mistakes as 
a rule are successful. Success means you have your 
way, and your way is many times wrong for your hap- 
piness. For it is that, and that only, you want your 
way. Mistakes are the result of ignorance, so it rea- 
sons, and more knowledge, fewer mistakes. But 
never mind the mistakes. Pitch right in as though you 
had not made a mistake. You will succeed. Say better 
luck next time. 



IDanit? 



As I understand, is real dishonesty. I suppose 
there is more vanity used than any other attribute we 
possess. It is used morning, night and all day ; in house, 
store, factory and street, by every one, rich and poor. 
And there are times when its use is good. Vanity is so 
prevalent and common, it is seldom noticed or spoken 
of. Now let us see what it is made of. You have a 
gold washed watch, and you pull it to the time. Your 
friends standing round remark the watch, and some 
exclaim, what a nice gold watch that is. You hear the 
remarks but say not a word, leaving them to under- 
stand that is is a good gold watch. That is vanity, 
pure and simple, and you are vain enough to let them 
go off with the opinion that you have a gold watch. So 
you deceived them. Deception is dishonesty. Or in 
other words, you did not have the goods, and your 
silence made you a fraud. That is the way I reason 
out vanity. And everything else of like nature is the 
same. Oh, how common, and never noticed. But if 



78 Seedlings 



your watch is gold, and you come honestly by it, why 
then it is only an honest exhibition of your thrift, so is 
very honorable. It is not vanity to think you are an- 
other's equal. If you did not, there would be no racing 
or games or sports. Your real worth shown is not 
vain, or vanity. It is our love for things why we get 
them. It is our ambition to show them. That is honest, 
honorable and should be promoted, instead of con- 
demned. 



Hre Eartb Hn& flDan flDaptefc? 

sa 

In my opinion, no. He seems to be a misfit all 
around. It may be he has not lived long enough to 
gcit used to it. I know he grew from it and lives on 
what it produces, but he is not in sympathy with it ; 
at least, it so seems to me. Now let us reason. Barr- 
ing a few islands in the ocean, there is no land suitable 
to live on. He must build shelter or freeze or roast, 
soak with rain or buried in snow. The land does not 
produce the kind of food, either in quantity or quality 
of itself, without man's help to sustain us. He must 
plow, fertilize, plant, cross the seed, and many more 
things, and then get scarcely enough ; in some places 
not enough food. Many times what he plants does 
not grow. I am told not rain enough, or too much 
rain, or frost, or cold ground, or bugs and worms, and 
sometimes farmers tell they do not know the reason 
some crops do not grow. At the same time, in by- 
lanes, along roadsides, in waste places, poor land, in 
fact, land that's of no earthlv use, what we call weeds. 



Seedlings 79 



grow naturally luxuriantly ; not only without man's 
care, but to do his best, can hardly keep them down, 
but, but what? Why, we can't eat them, can't live on 
them; peculiar isn't it? You will hear learned men 
using rich oratory in extolling the bounty of the earth 
and its fullness thereof, but I fail to see where man 
gets it, and that causes him to be a misfit, pure and 
simple. If we should enter a strange wood, in a 
strange country, ripe berries and fruit would be scat- 
tered around, yet if we eat them it is at the risk of 
being poisoned. Now when a man is born and grows 
big enough to tell wants, then for the first time he will 
see that he is out of joint with what he sees around 
him, or the whole earth. About all things that he 
wants to wear, to eat, some one else owns. "Hands 
off!" they shout. If he crosses a field, "Back," they 
scream, "Get off my grass !" Even good water he has 
to buy. Then again, his liberty is about all taken 
from him. It rains, so he can't stay out doors ; snow 
drives him to shelter; from the efforts of frost he has 
to get artificial heat; the blazing sun strikes him dead ; 
lightning paralyzes him ; he does not know the best 
kind of food to eat to keep in health ; he must be very 
careful or he will catch cold or some kind of sickness 
and if he does, he doesn't know nor can he find any 
one that does know what will cure him. He is as 
helpless as any animal on the earth at birth, or more 
so, at which time he is a trap for numerous ills. He 
has to learn to creep, to walk, to talk and to eat; he 
has to commit enough stuff to memory to drive an 
adult crazy. At the same time he is surrounded with 
customs, rules, laws and sentiments ; he is naturally 



80 Seedlings 



weaker than big carnivorous animals of his own 
weight at his best. He is seldom sure of anything, 
for things are changing all the time ; he even cannot 
scratch his own back, nor see a thing as it is; his ears 
are deceptive, his taste delusive ; he cannot bank on 
his touch ; he is not built in proportion, for he cannot 
pick up as small a thing as his eye can see ; he cannot 
live on the highest or lowest land, he must select his 
land to live on, if he would promote his health. Sup- 
pose a man built a car to run on a track, then made a 
track all twisted, bent and three inches too wide for 
the car. When you saw it, what would you think? 
What would you say ? There is only one thing I think 
you could say, and that is, the car and track are not in 
svmpathy ; they do not harmonize. They are a mis- 
fit, and you would say right, the car does not fit the 
track or the track does not fit the car. Either is cor- 
rect and true. Now this is just the way with mankind 
and this earth — they don't fit each other ; never were 
intended to, and I doubt very much if they ever will, 
and the reason is evident. The eternal change the earth 
is going through, mankind is way ahead of her, espe- 
cially in one thing sure. Nature kills her weaklings 
and humanity protects them, so you see in nature it 
is the survival of the fittest. Now from this it is evi- 
dent man has improved on nature, if protecting the 
weak is an improvement, and I think it is. Of course 
the earth and nature, as some put it, are one and the 
same thing (perhaps they are), father and mother to 
all, yet it is disputed by some that it is best to protect 
our weaklings. 

Now from all I have said in this article I think I 



Seedlings 8 1 



am justified by the rule of truth in saying man on this 
earth is a side issue, a misfit, a come-by-chance. Earth, 
was not made for him nor him for the earth. In armed 
neutrality they exist together. 



mnorr? 



Worry is an unsettled condition of body and mind. 
People do not have much sympathy for those who wor- 
ry. I think it as much a sickness as some fevers and 
far more reaching in results. The cause is a temporary 
lassitude of that which feeds the cells of the brain and 
governs what is termed the nerves. A_ person that is 
careless does not allow little things to bother. There 
are those who do not notice little things, and don't 
worry. Worrying is terrible to get fastened on a per- 
son. It sometimes robs them of half their governing 
power, and, ofttimes of the whole. Its working is 
something awful. To some people it destroys all their 
happiness so to speak, disgusts their best friends. Peo- 
ple dislike to be in their company. Everything they do 
goes wrong. They talk in a garrulous, snappish, man- 
ner. They are not pleased with anything, find fault 
with all, no matter how big or little. Of all curses to 
fall on a person, few are worse. It is about even with 
anger. It poisons the blood just the same, yet were 
people disposed they could lessen its bite considerably. 
Begin at its start. They could rub off its sharp cor- 
ners. The trouble starts in the stomach, as a rule, as 
most other troubles do. A person should look there 
for first help. Look well to your food. Be sure and eat 



82 Seed! 



ings 



food that will not stop long in the stomach. Food that 
stays long there causes one to feel sour, garrulous, 
nervous, out of sorts so called. The trouble is carried 
to the brain like rum drunkenness, and so we are 
trouble drunk. That is, we are not normal. Now let 
us look at the brain end. At the first sign, begin to 
fight it by turning it round, by forgetting it, by acquir- 
ing the habit of singing, joking, light talk, light read- 
ing. Change occupation. Go where you will hear 
laughing, funny stories, and all things of a light and 
pleasant nature. Check it when it first starts. The 
strangest part of it is, we worry about things and their 
results that never happen, and the half is in the future 
at that, and still do not remember that it never 
comes round, as our worry sees it. Some have lots of 
trouble in their mind, but it about all ends there. 
They sometimes enlarge a little obstacle until it ends 
in a mountain or their death, and so some go on with 
worry, some little things or other, making themselves 
sick and soring friends and all others who come near 
them. I say cut it out. Kill it. Then bury it. I 
know it is easy to write this, but I have seen it done. 
For what has been done, can be done again, condi- 
tions being suitable. I have tried it, done it, and I 
know. Yet it is up to you who worry, and it is just as 
you say. If you would rather it, than to make an effort 
to kill it. None can help you. Just a word more. If 
you continue to worry, keep your eye on the bughouse. 
Many land there through worriment. Philosophy 
teaches how to control every bit of it. Also about all of 
our trouble. If a boy stole an apple some would worry 
a month over it. Some not a minute. To not worry is 



Seedlings 83 



heaven. To worry is hell. Take your choice. You 
can doctor. 



%uiun> 



Luxury has been the curse of all men since his- 
tory was written. It first attacks the individual, 
then the people. It then reaches the government. 
It is to human beings what the dry rot is to the 
ship ; the decay is slow at first, but sure in the end. 
Luxury unfits a man for hard toil ; by becoming 
effeminate, his muscles grow soft, he recoils from ex- 
ertion, business is a burden, pleasure and fat is his 
desire. He does not reproduce as a rule, and cares 
naught for those who do. When he dies his blood 
leaves the earth. It has been ordained by nature that 
men's bodies should undergo toil to make them strong 
enduring. Like the oak, tough. But luxury is just 
opposite. Its trend is to weaken, and it does it. Oh, 
we love it, but if you love health, long life, happiness, 
with vigor, posterity, do not allow it to get fastened 
on you. It is a habit that is sure to destroy you, 
your future and your blood. Luxury and idleness are 
brothers, they kill men with pleasure, strange though 
true. Pleasure is what we all are seeking. Luxury, it 
not only prevents aims in life, but is the first step 
towards destroying human life. It is the working 
people who multiply, not people who live in luxury. 
They fade and die. Workers fill their places. They too 
grow fond of luxury, and then die, and so it goes from 
poor to rich. Do not adopt it on your life. 



84 Seedlings 



flDarriage 

ffl 

Marriage is one of the most perplexing things in 
life. It is one of the three great corners we turn, that 
is : birth, marriage and death. It is more important to 
our happiness than birth or death, for the whole of our 
middle intelligent life depends on it, for weal or woe. 
So, if a person mates properly, life is a heaven. If not, 
it is a hell, till death releases. I do not know of any 
one spot, in one's whole life, where more caution can 
be used to better advantage than selecting a mate. Yet, 
it seems to me that little or no caution or judgment is 
ever used. 

It appears to me that there are weighty reasons 
underlying these mock marriages, so to speak. I will 
name a tew of the paramount ones. First, some people 
do not seem to understand what is required of them 
to live a happy, married life. Second, ill health. 
Third, passion. No patience in treatment of husband 
or wife in their simple and childlike actions towards 
each other. 

Another thing of which there is no allowance 
made, is change. It is known to all that younger folks 
change as they grow old. That is most of them do. 
Some are mild in youth, rough when old. Some rough 
in youth, mild when old. Some mild, clear through. 
Some rough, clear through. Some rotten, clear 
through. Some of both sexes have not wisdom 
enough to live an honorable married life. I mean 
there is no sense of harmony in them which 
is absolutely necessary to married happiness ; they 
do not study harmonv, nor do they understand it-; 



Seedlings 85 



relation to marriage, and do not care to. While some 
people rasp along through life in a way, I could not, 
and call it a happy life. After fifty-one years of or- 
dinary married life it is my opinion that there is one 
great factor in selecting a mate, that is, look for one 
that will not sell their word for a dollar. I mean man 
or woman, whose word is a law to them. So they will 
not break it. Such a person is safe to tie to. You 
can depend on them. When a person marries, they 
agree to stick to the one they marry by all the laws of 
God and man, and a man or woman who regards 
their word of honor, or, who thinks their word repre- 
sents them, will not break it. Therefore the main 
thing is selecting a mate, man or woman, is, will they 
keep their word, or near to it, for if they will break 
their word in one thing, they will in another. You 
cannot depend on them. They should never marry. 
This getting married by catch as catch can, has 
proven a bad business, so to speak, a failure. 

No wonder there are so many unhappy mar- 
riages. People must not forget that about all young 
folks change as they grow old, in looks, mind, likes, 
dislikes and acts. So there must be something to 
take their place, or there will be a void. One or both 
lose interest in each other, then carelessness, want 
something new, then try to get apart. 



Do IRot Coerce H Cbilfc 



Do not try to get a true story from a child by 
sternness, brow beating, fear, or savage force. If you 



86 Seedlings 



do, nine times out of ten, you're left. To get a child to 
tell all the lies it knows and don't know, attack it in 
the above three ways, and you will get all the equiv- 
ocation, evasions and contortions in the hook, but 
talk easy with it and you have it. The child is parent 
to the adult. The average adult will deny every- 
thing for which they should not be blamed, for it is 
human nature. Yet I have seen people abuse their 
children for the same thing they themselves had done. 
They forget the child does not reason much, nor does 
the child understand, like themselves, so as a rule igno- 
rance is the cause of this misrule over children, and 
lower animals. Alas for the animals. Of course there 
are extreme cases, but they are few. Another thing, it 
brutalize the person, as well as the child to use brute 
force. Teach children as you would be taught in 
their condition. It seems to me the best way is to get 
a child's confidence and respect and you own it. Be 
kind to them in their troubles, and don't forget their 
troubles are as much to them as our own are to us. 
Another thing and do not forget it, children are the 
same as colts, and grow one end at a time. So the 
parent should watch their children and see whether 
the head or body grows the fastest, and govern a child 
accordingly. I was a boy once. My memory is good. 
I don't forget the injustice heaped upon me. 



IReliQion 



With which I have no quarrel. There are in the 
city of New York, three hundred and fifty-six different 



Seedlings 8 7 



choose from. So a choice should be indeed easy. Each 
one claims theirs is the truest, and most acceptable 
to God. Ee that as it may, to me religion is good, 
when not bad, bad when not good, the same as most 
everything else; it is founded on a substitute for 
truth, belief, so one can swing around and round in 
selecting. Some seem better than others, in being- 
more liberal so called, but like everything else, based 
on belief. It is easy to shift, which some people often 
do. To some people religion is a great benefit, be- 
cause they get much pleasure from it. They at least 
appear to, if judged by their acting. Others it ruins. 
Some it drives to the bug house. Some it makes fools 
of, and some become mere cyphers. Some use it as a 
tool, others as a cloak. Some do not use it at all. 
Some say it is false, others it's true. Some say it came 
from God, others from mankind. But it is no matter 
where from, they all agree in one thing, and that is, 
it is based on belief, simple belief. Some claim that 
Christ said : Whosoever believe that I am the son 
of God shall be saved. Who belie veth not shall be 
damned. This then is the base of belief. Now it seems 
to me that every person should be at liberty to use it 
or not, just as they think. To me, no one is the keeper 
of another's soul (that is if they have one). My phil- 
osophy teaches me that every human being accounts 
to God, and God only, and not to any man, men, 
church, ism, belief, sect, or cult, and it all lays with 
each and every person, for it is no other person's busi- 
ness whether I save my soul or lose it ; to me this is 
settled. As a rule men and women believe the path 
they were taught, and it matters not how unreason- 



88 Seedlings 



able it is ; whether against or with nature, they believe 
just the same. I will give just one illustration. Taken 
for granted, God fathers all living people. Now what 
would you think of a man who had a large family, 
and taught every child a different belief, so it made 
them quarrel and hate each other, while each thought 
they were selected to become a God by living for- 
ever. While at the same time their brothers and sis- 
ters were going to be burned and destroyed. Just 
think of it. While many people tell me God is more 
merciful than a human parent, think of that too. Do 
try and reconcile these stories. I suppose every- 
thing on this earth has its use, so has religion. It 
may help some people obey the law of the land, but to 
those who think for themselves, a dead man's belief 
is of no account beyond its truth. I have the greatest 
respect for dead men, or should say for their efforts. 
They did the best they could under the conditions of 
their time. Just the same, the driver of an ox team 
did the best he could, but, was he in it with the rail- 
road, or sailing ships, with steam ships. Progress. 

Ibow Hll Hnimals 2)ie 



Decay starts just as things begin to look common. 
The animal grows tired of looking at the same old 
things. The brain and fine senses cease to be inter- 
ested with surroundings, so they begin to cease their 
activity. 

The brain wearing of old things, does not flicker 
fast from one thought to another, and of course does 



Seedlings 89 



not require so much nutrition. 

If the brain does not move so fast, it does not eat 
so much, and does not evaporate so much water, and 
that means that the skin's surface begins to harden 
for lack of water, to bring nutriment to keep the sur- 
face of the skin alive. So decay begins. 

With a skin dying by reduced evaporation, the 
blood is thrown back on the blood makers ; now the 
blood builds, the body and removes it. But when it 
becomes congested the blood makers reduce their out- 
put, and the whole body begins to decay. 

The blood carries the componant parts of the 
body, by floating in water, and carries nutriment to 
every part of the system. The skin strains the blood, 
lets the water go, and when perspiring through the 
pores of the skin, leaving the blood for growth and 
repair. Such is life and growth. So it is, stop evap- 
oration, growth ceases, disolution will soon follow. 
All animals go through this stage before death inter- 
venes. 

Motion help along life, because motion is life, so to 
speak. 



Civilisation 



Civilization has not struck us very hard as yet. 
We cannot grow under its mild influence, when seen 
in, and around our streets, instruments of torture, 
scientifically manufactured, gold mounted and dis- 
played as ornaments. Shame on such civilization. I 
mean the common whip. The whip is made and used 



90 Seedlings 



to torture the brain of a horse. It is a disgrace for 
people to claim they are civilized, when they allow 
such a thing to be done. Savages love torture, glory 
in it. Civilization means doing away with causing 
pain. More, you will see the most refined ladies in 
the land with whips in their hands, torturing as a sav- 
age does, and if the educated and refined do it, what 
must be the result with the careless drivers? Alas 
the horse. What needless torture the brain of some 
horses have to undergo, and can speak no word to 
tell it. But that is not all. The mean way it is used 
is worse than savage. Blinders are put on a horse 
so he cannot see the cruel, underhanded cutting below. 
We call ourselves civilized. Just listen to the cry 
against prize fighting. Two men of their own free 
will stand up and strike each other until one is tired 
out, and they do it for money. Then we all shout, 
oh, how brutal, for causing each other pain. Brutal 
enough, I admit, but nothing compared with the bru- 
tality showered on a poor dumb horse. We call our- 
selves human. What is humanity? Is there such? 
Without kind treatment toward dumb animals, I 
doubt it. Civilized? Say galvanized, much more 
appropriate. No not until such savage, slavish, de- 
grading things as whips are abolished, and the despic- 
able thing called blinders. My philosophy teaches 
me, you will know a civilized man by his kindness to 
animals. The other is veneer. The whip under all 
circumstances is symbolical of brutality, savagery and 
ignorance. Thanks to the society with a long name, 
for the good it has done towards civilization. They 
have my respect and support. Big may it grow. 



Seedl 



mgs 



Summary 



I will sum up in condensed form, for life is too 
short to read useless words. Too much is quickly for- 
gotten, so you lose the facts, and your time, and do not 
gain a thing. Will call your attention to the fact that 
in this little book I haA^e endeavored to drop every use- 
less word, so the reading will appear a little strange to 
the average reader. 

The power that governs all creation is a balance. 

Next and opposite is the destroying power unbal- 
anced. 

To be happy — want nothing, fear nothing or get 
lost in work. 

Greatest human riches — Friends. 

Your greatest enemy — Idleness. 

The best wealth at birth, health ; at maturity, 
knowledge ; at death, insensibilty. 

The greatest prize to labor for — Wisdom. 

A grievous want — what nature withheld, and man 
apes. 

We have seven senses : Seeing, feeling, tasting, 
hearing and smelling, to keep our body straight, and 
two for pleasure, love and habit. Of these seven, habit 
is the strongest. The last two come and go. 

Matter is condensed gases, like water is con- 
densed steam. 



92 Seedlings 

Where gases originated, I have no opinion. 
There is not a thing created but form and time. 

Nothing is destroyed but form and time, which 
never come back. 

Everything seems to be moving. Stillness doesn't 
exist. 

Conditions, time and chance father form. 

The average human pa sion is to lord it and 
change it. 

To get beauty, eliminate familiarity. 

Bravery, the cell in head that governs heart is 
strong. 

Cowardice, the cell in head that governs heart is 
weak. 

Love fathers jealousy. No love, no jealousy. 

Leaders of fashion do not dress in fashion. 

The leader of a gang does not fraternize with 
them. 

Most people dress for others to look at. 

Put perfume on a pig and man alike. They cannot 
be distinguished apart in a dark room. 

Do not bank on belief. It will trip you if you do. 

Never accept belief as proof. Belief is the absence 
of truth. 

There is not anything good or bad in itself. 

Do not quarrel with a friend for a dollar or money. 

Never tell a story about anyone without proof. 



Seedlings 93 



The spark of life is the real act of passing water 
through a strainer. 

Love is extreme want. 

Hatred, don't want. Opposite to love. 

Inventions increase the length of our lives by 
giving us more time and we do more. 

Truth dies with the object that caused its life. 

Do not teach imagination to our children, because 
imagination, like mistakes, has ignorance for a base. 

Teach children all the facts you can, for facts are 
things as they are. They have a tendency to stick to 
the one who learns them. It is facts, not lies, we want. 

The more truth, the less unhappiness. 

Dress no more than half the time for others to 
look at, the other half to please yourself. 

To be real mean, want everything you see. 

To be generous, divide your last bite with a friend. 

To be good without temptation is the same as a 
steel ax without a tempter. 

Hunt for the opposite of everything, that is, things 
we know, for everything has an opposite or couldn't 
exist. 

To be brave, one must be careless. The greatest 
bravery on earth is to risk pleasure or life. 

If you want to be happy, get lost in something. 
Try to do anything that is honest and honorable. 
Spring straight at it, mind and body, and before you 
know it, your unhappiness will disappear. 



94 Seedlings 



We are living a life as near a sham as we can get. 
If you see a person on the street, they are not real. 
Their clothes cover every defect of the body. Their 
heels make them an inch taller than they really are. 

Life seems to be a game of crow, bluff, blunder 
and deception. It seems to be a matter of indifference 
whether we have the goods or not, simply to make 
people think so seems all sufficient. By watching peo- 
ple, I have learned few things in life are real. Yet 
some live a tolerable life. People live so from baby- 
hood, and that makes it come natural to them. As the 
savage in Africa, with an old dilapidated silk hat on 
his head and naked body. He seems to think he is 
dressed and will strut around as a London swell, feel- 
ing just as proud. And the reason? He grew up that 
way. Still I am sure it is not just as well, sup- 
posing we do no material injury to someone. For it is 
not what w r e think that harms, but rather what we say 
and do, that causes trouble. If people act out their 
thoughts, it must release them some and so save many 
from the bug house, but what gets my goat is why 
people do so much different in life than what they 
were taught, that is in so many things. To me it is a 
puzzler. 

Revenge to justice is what brass is to gold. 

A man cannot be just without dishonest thoughts. 

Things are just what we think they are, so we 
make everything in thinking but matter. 

A fool, when out allows the brute that is in them 
to master, and allow anger to govern. 



Seedlings 95 



Revenge is supposed to represent justice, btu it 
is a poor substitute. 

Principles should die a natural death when they 
conflict with human benefits. 

The brave ones are those who least fear to lose 
what they love most. 

Our civilization is made out of hundreds of facts, 
beliefs, thoughts, words, ways, deeds and imagination. 
To change one is to change the combinations of our 
individualism, becomes habit, trends the body politic 
another way. 

With few exceptions our civilization is opposed 
to nature as it is. 

It is said that all things possible come to those 
who wait. 

Those who force acts breed trouble, destroy jus- 
tice, and justice would die a natural death. Truth is 
a foster parent to a lie, for without a lie there would 
be no truth. 

If there w T as no night there would be no day. 

Bad is a good sometimes ; one cannot live without 
the other. 

Men have proved themselves fools, for they can- 
not make a worm, yet have made hundreds of gods of 
various kinds, and continue to make them. 

To be happy work, work, work at something. 

Never teach a philosophy that is not applicable 
to the whole people. 



96 Seedlings 



As a rule, do not say a thing is true, unless proven 
by your five senses. 

Be ready to prove what you say, or remain silent. 

I find no evidence that man was made for the 
earth. Nor was the earth made for man; they do not 
fit each other. Man has to conform to conditions 
given him by the earth ; the earth is seldom in touch 
with humanity, unless humanity wills it so. 

One of the greatest mistakes in our civilization 
has been the eternal fear of things that do not exist, 
nor never did, such as magic. 

You cannot make wealth by laws, just control it. 
Neither can laws create value, only measure it. True 
value is one's desire to possess a thing that is the only 
value on earth or ever was. 

Fairy stories have been a great blessing on this 
earth. 

We cannot get what we want in any other way 
than by solid work. 

There is no power in law to drive pulleys. 

No law can cure us if sick ; it can help prevent it. 

Life on this earth today is a game of bluff ; in 
politics, commerce, philosophy, religion, actions and 
dress. 

One wrong step means a fall of many feet. 
Law cannot make men equal ; some eat more than 
others ; nor think alike, nor act alike. 

Law cannot prevent acts, only punish the actor. 



Seedlings 9 7 



Contentment in trying to get pleasure out of 
something you meet in life, so doing is pleasure food. 

Never condemn a person on hearsay, it is a fool's 
say. 

Never eat before you earn it. 

Never spend your money before you get it. 

Never think ill of a person; they are just as they 
were made. They do as you do. the best they can, for 
every one does their best, nothing less, and 

If we all do our best, what better can we do. 

We all hunt for the one and same thing in our 
own way, how many find it (pleasure) ? 

Attend to your own business, if you do not you 
make trouble. 

Religion is good, if it causes you to be happy. 

It is better to hunt for good, even though you can- 
not find it, if it gives contentment. 

Human laws are crude because they only admon- 
ish, direct and punish, and do not reward. 

It is a bad light when the devil holds the candle. 

True philosophy gives every man on earth a right 
to advance his interest, but not at the destruction of his 
brothers. 

It is also true philosophy, that what a man earns is 
his, not one quarter of it. 

The earth and everything else is changing every 
hour. People canno stand still, but change also. 



98 Seedlings 

It is impossible to improve or advance without 
changes. Man changes from babyhood to hanhood, to 
nothing, a mere shadow. Like a snowflake, falling in 
water, it flickers the fraction of a second, then gone. 

If human society is perfect, why make new laws? 

It is humanity's misfortune, that the earth's gov- 
ernments grew from certain laws. These laws are the 
product of sentiment, sentiment the product of relig- 
ion, religion the product of belief, belief the product of 
ignorance. 

Philosophy must change to get a thing as it is, for 
most things I have known from boyhood have 
changed. 

Therefore my philosophy is : Every new thing 
must have a different reason. Example, sixty years 
past doctors bled fevers. They had their reasons. Now 
they do not bleed to cure fevers, and have weighty rea- 
sons. Philosophy means a thing as it is. So philoso- 
phy on bleeding has changed, so now we have a new 
one on the same old subject. 

Losers are not always in the wrong. 

Chew your food, so eat to live. 

Some know how to live in youth. Some in middle 
life. Some in old age. Some never. 

As life grows long, time grows short. 

Do not practice knavery. Its ghost will not 
down. 

I do not know effect without a cause. 



Seedlings 99 

Keep bowels open, head cool, feet warm — Health. 

Have good company, or lay down. 

To be virtuous, obey the law. 

Friends are the bluebirds of the human spring. 

Keep a thing seven years, if no good, destroy it. 

It's wit to steal, but wisdom not to. 

They who break a small law, will a large one. 

They that marry for money become slaves. 

As a rule, those who lend money lose friends. 

A person to live long must live right. 

There are ten good intentions made, two are kept. 

There is not a thing on this earth that costs so 
little and pays such a gigantic interest, as pleasing 
words, true words, good words, words of praise, and 
young people have a fortune in their mouth, but do 
not know it. Like the ox, they know not their 
strength. 

One of the greatest values to get is good advice or 
good counsel. Price, it has none. 

Fortune follows the brave always. 

Fate paunches and fossils heed. 

The best knowledge is learned from experience. 

When you see an effect, hunt for the cause. 

Get a reason if you can for everything. 

Doubt everything till proved. 

Do not give your opinion, without request. 



100 Seedlings 

Never think little of one, because they are poor. 

And never go back on a friend. 

For the love of your friends do not practice de- 
ception. 

Watch little things, they lead to great ones. 

If you see a fault in a person, and are wise, you 
will not do the same thing. 

If a horse by chance kicked you, you would not 
be considered wise to let the same horse, in the same 
place, and in the same way, kick you again. 

There are three ways in getting on with people, 
do all the bending, or half the bending, or break. 

Beauty of disposition shines more than beauty 
of face. 

Lead a quiet life, you will live longer. 

It is true philosophy to say history repeats itself. 

The greatest comfort in life, a good wife. 

A person without reason is seldom any good to 
their friends, or the world. 

In doing anything, always do your best. 

Always obey the laws under which you live. 

Respect a child as a grown person, for they are 
both alike, except in time. 

Never be biased by good clothes. 

Hold every strange person at arm's length, no 
matter how they look, talk, walk or act. 

Never say a thing is bad, it is only misplaced. 



Seedlings 



Never deny any person the right to pursue hap- 
piness in their own way, except they hurt some one. 

Never deny the right of free thought to any one 
for you demand it yourself. 

Always try to be equal to everybody, in good- 
ness. 

Never be put out because a person does not see 
a thing as you do, it is not nature to see things alike. 

To be superior to your surroundings lend you? 
last labor to a friend. 

Politeness fathers half the lies of the earth, yet 
half of human success has been and can be won by po- 
liteness. It bears the same relation between man and 
man that grease does to the hotbox of an axletree. It 
is also the bluebird of human pleasure. Use polite- 
ness in addressing ; truth in answering. It has won 
fortunes and seldom loses one. It is a good stock in 
trade and pays a fabulous interest. 

In life go slow, for a slow, sure horse is better 
than a thoroughbred if tricky. 

Watch all kinds of scheming, but do not scheme. 

When a person puts a price on their word, they 
are going back ; will soon become defunct in honor. 

To be virtuous fight against the habits of nature. 

No person can be better than their principles, 
sometimes not so good. 

A person is no better than they act. 

True words make a hard argument. 



1 02 Seedlings 



Compliments go to them, as a rule, who least de- 
serve them. 

I have proof of evolution ; will give one ; from a 
tad pole to a frog. 

I can see no way that a spirit can retain knowl- 
edge away from the body. The spirit knows just what 
the body has learned; it does not know anything of 
itself; it is considered not matter, therefore matter 
cannot impress it, and if you cannot impress it it can- 
not retain knowledge. This is reason, pure and sim- 
ple, and not belief. Belief is as elastic as rubber. 

Using this kind of reason, and not belief, I cannot 
see any way for a spirit to exist but through the power 
of imagination, which, of itself, is very faulty, and not 
considered proof of anything. The soul T consider the 
same as a spirit, for I can see no difference between 
them, relying on the description given me by my 
books on theology and talks with divines. 

People who eat right, eat to live ; those who do 
not, eat like a hog, to die. 

When you eat, chew, chew, chew, until food is 
paste. 

Young work, fat old age. 

Those who give are blessed with friends. 

Modesty and beauty are lovable. 

Everything not understood is hitched on God. 

Few things are too hard for a ready mind. 

To make friends, get enemies. 



Seedlings 1 03 

It seems to me there is more talk to hide our 
thoughts than to explain them. 

Never give up an undertaking, though the heav- 
ens fall. 

There is great power in appearance. 

You usually look the way you feel. 

Always be equal or above your surroundings. 

Never act the wind-bag or sneak. 

You can feel any way you will. 

Never act a cypher or sucker. 

Dress your mind as well as body. Feel proud, act 
proud, but not egotistical. 

At no age does man cease to act the fool some- 
times. 

Sleep when your five senses carry no pictures that 
are true to your brain cells. 

What one thinks becomes a part of the thinker. 

Every act reacts on the actor. 

To watch a person act is the same as to read their 
history. 

Education is a tool and we all should be experts 
in its use. 

Why do we die, is there a true reason for it? It 
is because the pores of the skin die. 

My life has taught me that a still tongue makes a 
wise head ; still a shut mouth catches no flies. 



04 Seedlings 



Most people seem to think their children are born 
to be Clays, Websters or some great person and so 
cram them with schooling. All a mistake, and for this 
one great paramount reason, nine-tenths of children, 
so jammed, lose their energy in the school room and 
when they mature there is no energy left to fight the 
battle of life, the fire and gimp is gone from their 
bodies, so they cannot make use of the knowledge they 
learned at school, so they get honor and that is all. 
Think of it. Look. Children who grew up in the 
schoolroom and those who did not, note the difference 
between them. I can do no more than tell you, but in 
God's name, give them a chance to fight for life and 
when you are an angel, they will bless you for it. As 
a rule, you cannot treat them too kindly or justly. 



Seedlings 1 05 

Us flDiflbi IRiflbt? 



After careful search and long, long hunt for the 
truth or falsity of that old saying I find it a true phil- 
osophical fact. People use it cheaply in speaking of 
brute force. Meaning one brute having strength to 
overcome another does not make it right, and yet, na- 
ture made it so, and nature is nearly right. I at least 
think so, and so does nature where we come from. She 
is our father, mother, and all. Turn to humanity, and 
how is it; why people are so unjust, unreasonable, un- 
fair and one sided, that they have to make laws to pro- 
tect the weak ones of their own families. But to do 
that, they must get the major part of the sentiment of 
their community, which is the strongest part of said 
community; in other words, might. It governs them 
and is right. Now then here we have it. Might is 
right, because the greatest power predominates. The 
majority is right, and the majority is might. It is right 
for a cat to kill a mouse, here again might is right. 
Why? Because mice are troublesome. Yet, if the 
mouse was able, it could kill the cat. Here again 
might is right. Just stop and think, in your own way ; 
things that happen ten to one come from the strong 
side. Now change he conditions. Let a robber rob 
you by force, i is not right, because you are injured. 
Yet the robber had a right to possess his strength, but 
no right to use it that way. All nature is governed by 
might and nearly all acts done in the world sifted 
down, good bad and indifferent, might is at the bot- 
tom. So, if a man is able to commit an act, the law 
determines good or bad. 



1 06 Seedlings 



Xtt>ext$ 

ffl 

I know it is dear to a woman's heart to keep birds 
in captivity and pet them, bnt is it just right? Can it be 
right to deprive any animal of its liberty? Does the 
example promote good results? Does it inculcate the 
principle of liberty (so dear to the Americin heart) in 
the heads of our children? Is it in keeping with the 
way we would be treated? Is it not opposite to the 
American idea of freedom? Is it in accord with 
the highest development of the intelligent human? 
Does it agree with nature? Doe ^ it correspond with 
any rule of God or man? Does it not outrage the law 
that produced it? Is it not the same as knocking a 
man down with one hand and pulling him on his feet 
with the other hand? I think so, and so it is with the 
bird. Steal its liberty with one hand, pet it with the 
other. Oh ! consistency what a gem when found. Yet 
the women of our land apparently ignore all the rules, 
customs of nature and knowledge. Just for this faddi h, 
childish habit, and call it pleasure. The Romans did it, 
and we call them brutal, little more than half civ- 
ilized. The same with otner nations, we call them bru- 
tal. I am a crude, unlettered man, but I have not the 
heart to do it. It seems to me the time will come when 
the caging and chaining of animals will go by its true 
name ; semi-savagery wil lbe applied to all those peo- 
ple who do it. You show no kindness by petting an 
animal after robbing it of its liberty, 'tis ironical cr 
platonic friendship. 



Seedlings 107 

Urin&neee 

ffl 

The shadow of kindness should be about every 
man, woman and child. Name a thing about a person 
if you can, that is more respected, more honored or 
more loved than kindness. Name an attribute of a 
person that is longer remembered or gives more pleas- 
ure than kindness. It is bluebirds of spring to the 
weary; a salve to the wounded heart. It is food, 
strength, hope, encouragement, contentment, energy 
to the exhausted human. It is everything in one ; its 
power is immense. We do not begin to realize how far 
reaching it is in doing good. I do not mean a half 
starved imitation, but that kind that we all love to re- 
ceive, the same should give. It is as near divine as any- 
thing on the earth, and why don't we all practice it? I 
know of but one reason : Carelessness. Yet it is the 
first towards making friends. And friends are better 
than all else. What will tame a savage heart quicker? 
What will cool a man's anger better? What will tie an 
animal's love stronger than kindness? What better 
recommendation can you give, than say they are kind 
people? How quick then confidence will spring. The 
most timid animal on earth can be taught to love you 
by kindness. I don't know of anything its equal, or 
near it. Give me my choice of the fourteen attributes 
of humanity to select from. I would choose kindness 
and lose the thirteen. Reader ! hark to what I say : 
Let this find a lodgment in your brain, and keep it 
there. Practice kindness to children, to men and 
women, to all animals on the earth; it does not matter 



Seedlings 1 08 



the size. Yes, to the worm. Kindness to all. Let 
everybody say of you, you are a kind person. Oh ! 
how easy would be life. How happy we would all be. 
The sting of anger would be gone. The sore hearts 
would decrease. Revenge would be robbed of its bit- 
terness. The wormwood of brutal treatment would be 
sugar coated ike a bitter pill. Oh- yes ! Listen to the 
dictates of loving kindness and be happy. Kindness is 
the most fruitful shrub that ever sprung from the hu- 
man head and bears the sweetest fruit. May it in- 
crease and smother trouble, and bless all people on the 
earth, is the wish of the writer. Only practice it and it 
will. I never knew it to fail. I define it this way : 
Truth, pleasure, charity, honor, justice, friendship, 
love and protection, all together, kindness. 



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